Use re-worked budget to kickstart reforms, govt told

 

The government has been urged to prioritise revamping the education system.

PETALING JAYA: The government now has the opportunity to kickstart reforms when revising the federal budget for the new year, says a governance expert.

Akhramsyah Muammar Ubaidah Sanusi said Putrajaya could allocate funds to reform the economy, education system, and governance of the country among other things.

He said the government should not limit the budget to solving problems in the next year alone but create a budget for the long-term.

“The government has a couple of months, which is probably too short a period for massive reforms, but it can already strategise for the future,” he said on Sinar Daily’s Wacana programme.

Akhramsyah said the government must prioritise revamping the education system, which he said left many young people without the necessary skills to enter the workforce.

He added that the government should also consider measures to mitigate natural disasters, such as floods, when drafting the budget.

The government is currently re-working the proposed 2023 budget tabled by the previous administration before Parliament was dissolved in November.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also finance minister, is expected to table a new budget early next year.

A RM107.7 billion temporary operating budget was passed in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday. It is mainly to pay salaries of civil servants and other related operational expenditure to ensure the smooth operations of the government until the new budget is passed. - FMT