Mustapha cabar Hamzah kemuka belanjawan alternatif

Mustapha Sakmud, a leader of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) in Sabah, challenged the opposition Leader Hamzah Zainudin to present an alternative budget proposal that focuses on reducing the country's fiscal deficit without compromising national development. The opposition leader's criticism came in response to the 2027 budget, which he believed could burden strategic national institutions such as Petronas, TNB, and KWAP.

"The Chief Opposition should present clear and detailed alternative budget proposals, including how he intends to reduce the fiscal deficit while ensuring the continued development of the nation, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak," Mustapha said in a statement.

Mustapha noted that the reduction in the fiscal deficit demonstrated the government's efforts to manage the nation's finances discreetly, aiming to reduce the debt burden that future generations will have to bear. "The figures cannot be misleading. The national fiscal deficit reached a peak of 6.4% of GDP in 2021 and 5.5% in 2022. However, since the government's administration, the deficit has continuously decreased from 5.0% in 2023 to 4.1% in 2024 and 3.7% in 2025," he added.

Mustapha projected that the fiscal deficit would continue to decline to 3.6% in 2026 and 3.3% in 2027, while the new government borrowings would decrease from around RM100 billion per year in 2021 and 2022 to RM75.6 billion in 2025. He stated that the 2027 budget also allocated RM18.7 billion for Sabah and RM16.2 billion for Sarawak, amounting to a total of RM34.9 billion for both states, an increase of RM2.2 billion from the previous year.

"This proves that fiscal discipline does not hinder the government from pursuing its national development agenda," he said.