DEPUTY Finance Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said the Finance Ministry (MOF) received 10,000 replies from the public on Budget 2024 through its portal. 

Face-to-face engagement sessions saw the participation of over 8,000 people – representing various stakeholders – nationwide, he added. 

“We (MOF) have concluded engagement sessions nationwide and received feedback, including 10,000 (replies) through the portal. All of these will be summarised and considered for Budget 2024, to be tabled in less than a month on October 13. 

“We are assessing all the feedback and conducting a thorough analysis. Currently, we are in the last stage of budget preparation,” the Bukit Mertajam MP told reporters when met at his service centre today. 

Budget 2024 is expected to continue its focus on the people’s welfare as well as national infrastructure development. 

Sim said several ministries have been actively monitoring and evaluating Rahmah sales conducted nationwide to assess the need to increase subsidy allocations for next year, adding that allocations would be based on public impact and the details would be disclosed in Budget 2024. 

“Throughout this year, a total of RM66 billion has been allocated for various subsidies, including cooking oil, eggs, and chicken. Additionally, to help alleviate the costs of living, the government added an extra RM150 million to the Rahmah sales. 

“It aims to reduce the prices of essential goods by 10 to 30%. The government also provides RM8 billion in cash contributions via Rahmah Cash Aid. All of this is to ease the burden on people in the short term due to current global economic conditions,” he said. 

At today’s Rahmah sales, 22 essential items such as rice, sugar, flour, eggs, and cooking oil were available from 8am. Over 2,000 visitors attended and purchased these items at 10%-30% cheaper than market price, Sim added. – Bernama, September 23, 2023.