Making sacrifices does not mean Budget 2019 will be an austerity drive, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

"I didn't say (it will be an) austerity (budget). That was said by the prime minister in the context of the government is willing to sacrifice our tax collection.

"I hope that people will also adopt the same spirit. We lost RM23 billion (by switching from GST to SST) and of course, people are looking at how we are going to cover the difference.

"But the wellbeing of the people, especially the B40, is paramount. We have to make sacrifices and not strictly adhere to meet the fiscal deficit target because we want to have sustainable economic growth that can be continued, so the people's wellbeing is not affected," Lim told reporters when met in the Parliament lobby today.

The finance minister last Tuesday echoed Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad in saying that next year's budget will be a "budget of sacrifice".

On the same day, Mahathir announced that there would be new taxes to cover national debt.

The next day, the stock market sank to its lowest since July.