PARLIAMENT | Pakatan Harapan's first federal budget passed its first hurdle today when the Budget 2019 bill got through the policy stage with a voice vote.

The bill will now proceed to the committee stage which begins tomorrow.

Most ministries wrapping up today had breezed through their closing remarks as many of the government and opposition MPs who had asked questions while debating the budget earlier were not present in the House.

This meant the ministers could just submit a written reply to the MPs queries later.

Exceptions were the Foreign Affairs Ministry - which was dominated by a debate over Icerd - and the Finance Ministry which closed off the policy debate stage.

Met in the Parliament lobby later, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said he was relieved there was no bloc vote.

"I am relieved. It's the first budget of Harapan. We hope the poor can benefit from it.

"Even though we face many challenges, the government hopes all can sacrifice together so that we can overcome a difficult fiscal position," he told reporters.

Earlier while in his wrapping up speech, Lim said the government was in talks to expand coverage under the B40 insurance scheme, from four critical illnesses to 36.

He also announced that the government would be allocating an extra RM60 million for in paddy subsidies, bringing the total amount to RM360, while increase the floor price for scrap rubber to RM2.50 from RM2.20 previously.