MoF doubles down on people-centric growth, reforms to drive economy

Free Malaysia Today

Prioritising stronger governance and grassroots initiatives like repairing public infrastructure will chart Malaysia’s growth, says secretary-general Johan Mahmood Merican.   Read More:  https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2025/11/04/mof-doubles-down-on-people-centric-growth-reforms-to-drive-economy   Laporan Lanjut:  https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/bahasa/tempatan/2025/11/04/mof-fokus-pertumbuhan-berasaskan-rakyat-reformasi-untuk-pacu-ekonomi   Free Malaysia Today is an independent, bi-lingual news portal with a focus on Malaysian current affairs.    Subscribe to our channel - http://bit.ly/2Qo08ry   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Check us out at https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com  Follow FMT on Facebook: https://bit.ly/49JJoo5  Follow FMT on Dailymotion: https://bit.ly/2WGITHM  Follow FMT on X: https://bit.ly/48zARSW  Follow FMT on Instagram: https://bit.ly/48Cq76h  Follow FMT on TikTok : https://bit.ly/3uKuQFp  Follow FMT Berita on TikTok: https://bit.ly/48vpnQG  Follow FMT Telegram - https://bit.ly/42VyzMX  Follow FMT LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/42YytEb  Follow FMT Lifestyle on Instagram: https://bit.ly/42WrsUj  Follow FMT on WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/49GMbxW  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Download FMT News App:  Google Play – http://bit.ly/2YSuV46  App Store – https://apple.co/2HNH7gZ  Huawei AppGallery - https://bit.ly/2D2OpNP   #FMTNews

Transcript

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.

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