LIVE: #Budget 2016

[5.45pm]
» Beginning July 1, 2016, national minimum wage will be increased from RM900 to RM1000 per month in Peninsular; RM800 to RM920 per month for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.

[5.35pm]
» Government allocated RM5.9 billion for BR1M aid, which will benefit 4.7 million households and 2.7 million single individuals.
» BR1M now in 3 categories - households earning less than RM1,000 will be given RM1,050; households earning below RM3,000 will be given RM1,000; households earning between RM3,001 to RM4,000 will be given RM800. Read more here

[5.34pm]
» RM17.3 billion for defence camp for the procurement of six Littoral Combatant Ship, armored personnel carrier, Airbus A-400M; RM523 million allocated for the development of the army camps in Sabah, ESSCOM.
» RM160 million allocated to build 4,000 units of Armed forces quarters

[5.30pm]
» RM72 million allocated for treatment including hemodialysis and RM4.6 billion for medicines, consumables, vaccines and reagents in public hospitals and clinics.
» Women, Family and Community Development Ministry is given the allocation of RM2 billion to help the disabled, senior citizens and poor families.
» RM180 million allocated to manage natural disasters while RM60 million allocated to National Flood Forecast and Warning Programme, RM730 million for flood mitigation plan.

[5.27pm]
» RM40 million allocated to Housing and Local Government Ministry to rehabilitate abandoned private housing projects.
» Allocation of RM150 million to Rural and Regional Development Ministry to build and rehabilitate 11,000 weak houses in rural areas

[5.25pm]
» Five new hospitals to be build at Pasir Gudang, Kemaman, Pendang, Maran and Cyberjaya.

[5.20pm]
» Allocation of RM1.6 billion to build 175,000 PR1MA units and to be sold 20% below market price; 10,000 unit expected to be completed next year.
» Allocation of RM60 million to construct houses for Orang Asli.
» RM200 million allocated for First Home Deposit Financing Scheme to assist first time home owners to pay deposits when purchasing affordable housing

[5.11pm]
» Development of Aeropolis KLIA on 1,300 acres: expected to draw investments of RM7 billion.
» Development of Malaysian Vision Valley - 108,000ha from Nilai to Port Dickson with an initial investment of RM5 billion in 2016.

[5.05pm]
» The Pan-Borneo highway will be completed in 2021 and will cost RM16.1 billion. The highway will be toll-free.
» MRT II Sg Buloh-Serdang-Putrajaya at RM28 billion expected to start in second quarter of 2016 and ready by 2022.
» LRT3 project from Bandar Utama, Damansara - Johan Setia, Klang at RM10 billion - expected to start in 2016 and ready by 2020.
» Bus Rapid Transit KL - Klang at RM1.5billion & Bus Rapid Transit Kota Kinabalu at RM1 billion.

[5.02pm]
» RM145 million allocated to prepare the national athletes for the upcoming 2017 SEA Games and PARA SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur.

[5.01pm]
» Households earning income of RM3,000 and below per month will receive RM100 in schooling aid for children.
» Allocation of RM350 million will benefit 3.5 million students.
» RM135 million allocated for programmes to strengthen BM and English proficiency among Malaysians.

[4.57pm]
» Decision on Malaysia's commitment in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will be made in Parliament soon.

[4.55pm]
» The Budget 2016 will continue to promote the people's economy by strengthening the nation's economic resilience towards the ultimate objective of prospering the nation and enhancing the well-being of the rakyat, despite the external environment which remains volatile and uncertain. Read more here

[4.50pm]
» RM1.2 billion allocated for upgrading Internet speeds in rural areas from 5mbps to 20mbps.
» RM1.4 billion will be used to build and upgrade 700km stretch of rural roads nationwide.

[4.49pm]
» The government is prepared to waive the GST on other basic amenities.

[4.44pm]
» The government plans to establish SME Tech Transformation Fund with RM220 million under the SME Bank with interest rate of 4%.

[4.42pm]
» Government will implement Cyber City Centre in Cyberjaya with estimated development cost of RM11 billion within five years.

[4.38pm]
» GST collections are used to subsidise the shortfall from petroleum returns.
» SST collections are only RM18 billion compared to GST which is about RM39 billion.
» Without GST, the nation's deficit will increase to 4.8% and not 3.1% as targeted for 2016.
» World oil prices are expected to remain low next year and revenue from oil is expected to be about RM31.7 billion.

[4.37pm]
» Income tax for those earning RM600,000 to RM1 million per annum will be increased to 26% and those more than earning RM1 million, 28%.

[4.34pm]
» Telco prepaid card users will get their rebates with GST credited back to them for one year (Jan 1 - Dec 31, 2016).

[4.30pm]
» Zero-rated Goods and Services Tax (GST) for over-the-counter meds involving 30 illnesses like cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart related diseases as well as controlled meds under the Scheduled Poisons groups A,B,C,D.

[4.29pm]
» GST submission rates were more than 90%.
» The government's decision to implement GST was timely following the drop in the price of fuel prices by more than 50%.
» GST collection exceeded target of RM21.7 billion and expected to reach RM27 billion.

[4.27pm]
» National reserves were maintained at RM418 billion as of Oct 15.
» The country is expected to remain in a controlled inflation state of between 2-3% next year.
» Foreign investments remained stable at RM22.4 billion for the first half of 2015.

[4.25pm]
» Five million people living in the outskirts have been provided with basic amenities like electricity and clean water.
» The poverty rate has been reduced to 2.9% and 1.8 million opportunities were created.

[4.19pm]
» RM62 billion collected in O&G taxes for 2015, RM31.7 billion collected from O&G sources in 2015.
» Foreign investment remains strong at RM22.4 billion for the first quarter of 2015.

[4.06pm]
» #Budget2016: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak is now speaking.

Updates on Budget 2016 is now live! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter.