PUTRAJAYA – The Economic Ministry will work closely with other ministries to provide scenarios and planning to ensure government revenue is strengthened.
Its minister Rafizi Ramli said a lot more creativity and innovation would be employed to address structural economic issues – now a focus for the unity government, especially given the challenges the country faces.
“Malaysia cannot depend too much on natural resources-related or commodity-related revenue.
“I’m sure it is a subject to become a focus to ensure our revenue streams are more robust,” he told reporters after the 12th Malaysia Plan mid-term review conference kick-off here today.
Rafizi further said that he was hopeful of charting an approach from different angles to strengthen the nation’s revenue streams.
Taxation should not be the only angle to consider in the longer term, he noted.
“We want to vary our taxation streams so that they will become more robust and less dependent on certain industries.
“However, the process cannot be decided or done abruptly within a few months, it does take some time, but our (the ministry’s) job is to make sure we provide enough planning for the cabinet to consider,” he said.
Asked if Budget 2023 will be smaller or larger than that announced by the previous government, Rafizi said this has to be answered by Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said the government is working on presenting a sustainable federal budget, which is scheduled to be tabled next year.
The Economic Ministry will be working closely with the Finance Ministry on this matter, which is one of the most important tasks at hand for the new government, he said.
“We will be very occupied with that over the next month or two,” said Rafizi, adding that his ministry is focused on long-term planning. – Bernama, December 6, 2022
