PRIME Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has proposed certain changes to next year’s budget that he hopes the finance minister will make before it is tabled on Friday.

He said that Pakatan Harapan leaders with varying views had discussed Budget 2020 at length.

“We hope that the MoF will take into account (the suggestions) and make the announcement during the budget speech,” he said after the Pakatan Harapan presidential meeting.

He did not reveal what he sought to have changed.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng will table Budget 2020 in the Dewan Rakyat on Friday. He has announced ahead that it is an expansionary budget aimed at boosting domestic spending and investment in the face of a gloomy world economy.

The Malaysian Insight has reported that the high cost of groceries and household goods is the top concern of working-class families, with almost all of them wanting the government to bring prices down.

A straw poll conducted by The Malaysian Insight in Penang, Selangor and Sarawak showed this to be the response of all but two of 10 families in the B40 group, when asked what was their “No.1 wish” for Budget 2020.

All said they struggled each month to provide food for their children, pay rent and utility bills, and service loans for their cars and motorcycles. – October 7, 2019.