BUDGET 2015 Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s unveiling of Budget 2015 courted mixed reactions from various interest groups but issues concerning the everyday lives struck a chord for many.

One of the issue close to the heart is housing, where the government announced a Youth Housing Scheme for married youths aged 25 to 40 years old.

Under the scheme, it will fund the first 20,000 households with income under RM10,000 for a property up to RM500,000 and even subsidise RM200 for their monthly repayment for two years.

However, Malay Economic Action Council (Mtem) chief executive officer Mohd Nizam Mashar ( right ) said that is akin to subsidising developers and does not address the underlying problem.

“The RM200 per month is going to sound like we are subsidising the developer rather than addressing the problem of speculative housing markets,” he said.

In contrast, the Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association Malaysia (Rehda) lauded the scheme, stating that it will “help to alleviate the burden of borrowers living in urban areas”.

The government has nonetheless ramped up its efforts to provide affordable housing which was lauded by 1Malaysia People’s Housing Programme (PR1MA) chief financial officer Hasleen Isnin.

Najib announced RM1.3 billion for PR1MA to construct 80,000 units of houses for middle income earners.

“The allocation will help towards PR1MA’s issue of sourcing land for affordable housing.

“The raised household income ceiling from RM8,000 to RM10,000 for PR1MA is good because  the middle-income band has shifted as the floor remains at RM2,500,” Hasleen was quoted as saying by KiniBiz .

Goodies for NGOs

There were goodies for NGOs, too, as Najib in the Budget announced a one-off RM50 million grant to NGOs where groups like Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) stands to benefit.

However, WAO executive director Ivy Josiah ( right ) said the amount was insufficient.

“Financial aid shuld not be given on a one-off payment basis as the government should work towards helping make NGOs more sustainable.

“I also hope that in the future, the government will make credible NGOs tax-exempt for this will greatly help the NGOs to get funded,” she said.

Malaysian Associated Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry K Eswaran called he budget the best yet for small and medium enterprises, with allocations for start-up loans.

“A special note of thanks to our prime minister for the additional RM50 million allocated to the Indian Entrepreneurs Financing Scheme that will benefit another 5,000 Indian entrepreneurs,” he said.

However, think-tank Institut Rakyat’s executive director Yin Shao Loong ( right ) took a more critical view of the Budget.

“The government has embraced regressive taxation, cutting subsidies and increasing handouts without tackling sustainable wage increases, and some questionable development economics,” he said.

He said the government move to slash income taxes in light of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is unlikely to help much.

This, he said, is because top earners are likelier to benefit more from the income tax cut while it is the low-income groups that are worst hit by GST.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers expressed reservations about a proposed introduction of an employment insurance scheme announced in the Budget.

“Based on initial consultations, there is no quid-pro-quo from unions on retrenchment benefits as a trade-off for employers to consider the scheme.

“The proposed Employment Insurance Scheme should only be undertaken after consultation with all stakeholders, especially employers,” it said.