Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR), in collaboration with Centre for Extension Education (CEE), organised a talk titled “Key Significance and Impact of the 2020 Malaysian Budget Proposal” at UTAR Sungai Long Campus on 13 November 2019.

Invited to deliver the talk was Yap Wai Onn, a chartered accountant and lecturer from Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM). In his talk, he gave an in-depth analysis of the 2020 Budget and provided insights into pertinent policy changes and its impact on society and economy. He quoted the statement of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad saying that Malaysians cannot have higher subsidies and lower taxes at the same time, and he commented, “This is very much appropriate. A country cannot sustain with generous subsidies and low taxes. Our country needs to strike balance between taxes and subsidies.”

He explained the key focus and strategies of Budget 2020. Themed ‘driving growth and equitable outcome towards shared prosperity’, the budget consisted of four main thrusts, namely Driving Economic Growth in the New Economy and Digital Era; Investing in Malaysians: Levelling Up Human Capital; Creating a United, Inclusive and Equitable Society; Revitalisation of Public Institutions and Finances.

He presented 2020 federal revenue and expenditure budget and outlined the implications of the budget on individuals and corporate. He also explained the changes of employees provident fund (EPF), saying that the body has expanded the scope of its education withdrawal for qualifications attained at certificate level, particularly for the programmes that are in line with the nation’s Industrial Revolution 4.0.

Furthermore, he introduced a whole slew of grants and incentives such as e-wallet and pointed out that the government is currently pushing the nation to embrace the digital age and move towards a cashless society.  According to him, the government launched the Malaysia@Work initiative to create better employment prospects, particularly for youth, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and women. The initiative was also a wage subsidisation scheme for Malaysian workers, with the aim to encourage hiring of locals instead of foreign workers. For instance, under the sub-scheme Locals@Work, Malaysian employers will be given hiring incentives if they replace foreign workers with locals.

Moreover, he highlighted some other particular incentives such as minimum wage rate, eligibility for overtime claim, as well as tax initiative for electrical and electronics sector, automation and green economy. He also gave an overview of the sectorial outlook and explained that technology, property and auto sectors were the key winners in Budget 2020 whereas the possible losers were gaming, manufacturing or services sectors. He concluded that Budget 2020 was modestly expansionary for the economy to grow. It is committed to driving domestic growth in short term as well as to prepare the proper groundwork for a knowledge-based and high-value economy.