The Ministry of Finance (MOF) today issued its Pre-Budget Statement (PBS) in relation to Budget 2025 that will be tabled in Parliament on 18 October 2024.

The issuance of the PBS is in line with global best practices to promote public discourse and transparency in the formulation of annual budgets. Hence, the PBS is issued with the purpose of communicating the Government’s priorities for Budget 2025 to stakeholders, in order to guide inputs and proposals for the budget.

“The Government welcomes suggestions from the rakyat and businesses for Budget 2025, particularly proposals to accelerate the implementation of Ekonomi MADANI and to build on the current positive growth momentum,” said YB Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, Minister of Finance II, at the Pre-Budget 2025 Dialogue with civil servants at INTAN this morning.

The economy is experiencing robust improvement in growth, from 2.9% (Q4 2023) to 4.2% (Q1 2024). This is further supported with the advanced estimate of 5.8% for Q2 2024.

This growth was fueled by, among others, a recovery in exports, growing by 5.2% (Q1 2024) compared to an 8.1% contraction in 2023. Private investment growth strengthened to 9.2% (Q1 2024) compared to 4.6% in 2023.

“The Ministry of Finance is committed to advance fiscal reforms in Budget 2025 in line with medium-term commitments under the Fiscal Responsibility Act to further reduce deficits and manage debts to more sustainable levels. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance will also ensure fiscal policy in 2025 remains supportive of private sector-led growth,” added YB Datuk Seri Amir.

The PBS articulates three short-term priorities under Budget 2025 to realise the goals of Ekonomi MADANI:

1. To raise the ceiling (in terms of restructuring the economy towards greater competitiveness and higher value-added activities);
2. To raise the floor (in terms of improving quality of life and inclusiveness of opportunities); and
3. To strengthen governance and public delivery.

The PBS additionally sets out the theme of Ekonomi MADANI: Negara Makmur, Rakyat Sejahtera to guide the national consultation process for Budget 2025. In line with the MADANI principles, the Government is committed to a holistic and inclusive process in formulating Budget 2025 and welcomes feedback from all walks of life.

The national budget formulation process kicked off on 9 July 2024 through the Budget 2025 Consultation chaired by the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, YAB Dato’ Seri Anwar bin Ibrahim. More than 400 participants representing government agencies, the private sector, the academics, non-governmental organisations (NGO) and civil society organisations (CSO) participated in the inaugural consultation session. This will soon be followed by a series of nationwide consultations over the coming weeks.

Concurrently, members of the public can submit their comments, feedback and proposals to the Belanjawan 2025 portal at https://belanjawan.mof.gov.my.

Ministry of Finance
Putrajaya
30 July 2024