Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak should be downsizing his bloated department instead of making the rakyat pay to meet the country's deficit cut targets, says PAS Youth.

PAS Youth information chief Zaharudin Muhmmad said he opposes any further subsidy reduction for the rakyat and called for any more cuts in subsidiesm to come from the Prime Minister's Department (PMD).

"The estimated operational and developmental expenditure for the PMD for 2014 alone is RM16.4 billion, compared with the actual expenditure in 2012, which was RM13.7 billion.

"Does the government not intend to first cut unnecessary expenditures under the PMD?" Zaharudin asked in a press statement today.

He said there were agencies in the PMD that could be downsized or merged to optimise their functions and allocations.

Among the agencies under the PMD that could be considered for this, he said, are the Advisory Board, Science Advisory Board, Science Advisory Committee, Special Innovation Unit, secretariat offices for former prime ministers, Felda Publicity Office and Permata.

"I am confident that if the prime minister first implements savings in the government, then government spending can come under control and we will be able to achieve better deficit reduction targets by 2020," Zaharudin said.

The country's deficit was reported to have been reduced to 3.9 percent last year, down from 4.5 percent in 2012. The government aims to bring the deficit down to 3.5 percent this year.