00:01Malaysia's path to sustainable growth is being charted not by mega-projects,
00:05but by a renewed focus on fiscal reform, stronger governance and productivity.
00:10Finance Ministry Secretary-General Johan Mahmoud Merikan
00:13says Budget 2026 is part of a long-term reset for how Malaysia achieves its ambitions,
00:18and that talk of becoming a high-income nation must be grounded in practical reforms.
00:23Why should we talk about trying to become a high-income, developed nation?
00:27We don't even get the basics right.
00:29Instead of directing resources to costly infrastructure,
00:32Putrajaya is prioritising grassroots initiatives.
00:35These include repairing roads, public markets and schools,
00:39projects that improve daily life and create jobs for local contractors.
00:43We continue to see that focus on basics,
00:46allocation increase for road maintenance in terms of fixing potholes,
00:50also low-cost housing.
00:52Those are the things that, again,
00:55tries to address the needs of the everyday man.
00:58But at the same time also, it's the sort of small-scale work
01:02that again creates those multipliers in the local economy
01:06because it typically will always involve local nation contractors.
01:10In fact, I can't think of any other past administration
01:14has addressed so many subsidies, you know, from electricity, diesel, water, chicken, egg,
01:22and obviously Ron95 is the one that's most recent.
01:27If that's not a commitment to fiscal reform, I don't know what is.
01:31On governance, Johan pointed to new laws and parliamentary reforms
01:35designed to tighten spending and increase transparency.
01:38These include the Procurement Act, Prime Minister's Question Time,
01:41and stronger powers for the SPRM and Auditor General to track public funds.
01:45The reform agenda on governance that will also hopefully produce better outcomes
01:53and better utilization of national resources for national development.
01:58Johan says these initiatives are part of the Madani Economy Framework's three pillars.
02:03Strengthening governance and fiscal sustainability,
02:06raising the ceiling of national growth,
02:08and lifting the floor of living standards so gains are shared.
02:11Imran Arif, FMT.
Comments