KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Friday (Oct 10) tabled a RM419.2 billion (US$99.3 billion) Budget 2026 that is set to be the country’s largest ever.
The sum outstrips the record RM412.1 billion expenditure earmarked for this year, which was adjusted from an earlier allocation of RM421 billion. The 2024 budget was RM407.5 billion.
Of the RM419.2 billion allocated for 2026, operating expenditure accounts for RM338.2 billion of the projected spending while the remaining RM81 billion is for the government’s development expenditure.
Operating expenditure covers the government’s daily running costs – such as civil servants salaries and pension payments – while development expenditure refers to funds allocated to create long-term assets like infrastructure, for instance.
According to the government’s Fiscal Outlook report that was released on Friday, revenue in 2026 is projected to grow by 2.7 per cent to RM343.1 billion, compared to this year’s projected revenue of RM334.1 billion.
The government projects its revenue to be mainly contributed by tax revenue – estimated at RM270.4 billion – while non-tax revenue is projected at RM72.7 billion.
In its Economic Outlook report, the government projects the economy to grow between 4 and 4.5 per cent in 2026.
Meanwhile, it projects that the economy will grow between 4 and 4.8 percent this year, after registering growth of 4.4 per cent in the first half of the year.
“Growth has been broad-based: Households continue to spend with confidence, investment is rising in both the public and private sectors … Even in the face of a weakened global trading environment, our exporters are adapting and sustaining jobs at home,” Anwar – who doubles as finance minister – said in the report.
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