Finance Minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz said Malaysia is on track to achieve its deficit target of 6.5 per cent of gross domestic product for this year. He said the government is confident that it would meet the track provided the country’s revenue performance meets expectations. Malaysia’s GDP will depend on how far it can reprioritise spending and the final GDP outcome.
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At the virtual Invest Malaysia 2021 Series 2 today, he said the government had rationalised the expenditure in 2021 to accommodate the increase in the Covid-19 fund to RM39 billion, which was mainly to finance the additional assistance and stimulus packages.
“So in total, the overall deficit for this year is expected to be RM98.8 billion, up from the original budgeted amount of RM84.8 billion,” he added.
In the first half of 2021, Malaysia recorded 7.1 per cent GDP growth, however, now all the focus will be on the country’s second-half year performance. Zafrul further said that the third-quarter 2021 GDP results will be announced next week.
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