BUDGET 2019 | Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the government will be implementing a slew of methods to control government spending including tabling the Fiscal Responsibility Act in 2021.

Announcing this in his Budget 2019 speech today, he said the new law would help “prevent uncontrolled spending which results in large debts”.

Another strategy to be employed was implementing “zero-based budgeting” where yearly budgets are planned from scratch and every item justified.

“This approach will increase efficiency and savings because the budget will be made by analysing the reasons for allocations and not based on the budget from the previous year.

“All spending will follow procedure and be planned from zero,” Lim told the Dewan Rakyat.

The minister also announced that a Debt Management Office will be established to check and manage government debts and liabilities.

“The office will oversee the federal government, statutory bodies and special purpose vehicles in a holistic manner,” he said.

Earlier, Lim had said that a major weakness of the government's macroeconomic governance was the mismanagement of public funds, which had led to scandals like 1MDB.

The above-mentioned three strategies were thus needed to reform public institutions, a key focus of the budget. The other two focus areas are “ensuring the wellbeing of the rakyat” and “instilling an entrepreneurial state”.

Budget 2019 is themed “Malaysia Wibawa, Ekonomi Dinamik, Rakyat Sejahtera" (Capable Malaysia, Dynamic Economy, Prosperous People).