cushion the impact of global financial woes on the local economy.

Mini budget to include 'ready-to-roll' packages
Published: 2009/02/21



THE mini budget to be tabled in Parliament on March 10 will include "ready-to-roll" packages, comprising a mix of intermediate projects to stabilise growth and investment, so as to cushion the impact of global financial woes on the local economy.

The move will support businesses in overcoming the slowdown as well as in tackling retrenchment issues, said Economic Planning Unit (EPU) director-general Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Mahbob in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

"The mini budget will be definitely more comprehensive because we are doing a lot of consultations with the industry players," he told reporters after delivering a talk on measures needed by Malaysia to get back on track due to the current global economic crisis.

"It will cover many sectors and also address concerns (on the impact of the global financial crisis)," he said.

Sulaiman said the EPU, together with the Finance Ministry, was reviewing projects which have positive impact on the economy in terms of multiplier effects so that these could be proposed to the government.

"This will involve transferring allocations among ministries so that projects which have been delayed can be carried out quickly," he said.

Earlier, Sulaiman said that with the first RM7 billion stimulus package and continued decline of global crude oil prices, the fiscal deficit will be higher.

"With the new stimulus package, we anticipate fiscal deficit to increase further than the 4.8 per cent estimated earlier during the tabling of Budget 2009 last year," he said.

Sulaiman said the new estimated fiscal deficit as well as revised gross domestic product (GDP) figure will be announced during the tabling of the mini budget.

"We expect a small positive growth for the GDP, (but) so far, we have not finalised the number," he said.

Sulaiman said as the global economic slowdown worsened, the government would continue to take measures to strengthen economic resilience to cushion the impact. - Bernama