Morning Brief

The Political Financing Bill is once again raised in parliament for consideration after much to and fro. A positive outcome of this bill is the strengthening of democracy and transparency in Malaysia but is there political will? We speak with Thomas Fann, Chairperson of Bersih for his insights on the parliamentary select committee, implementation, and impact of the bill for Malaysia.

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Budget 2024 is set to be tabled in Parliament on Oct 13th with prime Minister and finance minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim hinting that there may be new taxes planned, to narrow the budget gap to 3.5% of GDP by 2025. Sim Kwang Gek, Country Tax Leader, Deloitte Malaysia shares her thoughts on what she expects in terms of how the government plans to boost its revenues going forward.

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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is committed to a fiscal deficit target of 3.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2025. In order to achieve this, he will need fiscal and procurement discipline, and 2 new legislations should help, with the Government Procurement Act and Fiscal Responsibility Act mooted. To help us understand the new legislations, we speak with Sri Murniati Yusuf, Chief Operating Officer, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS).

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Crude oil prices have surged to a 10 month high as Brent crude comes perilously close to US 100 dollars per barrel. In fact prices have surged 30% since mid June after Opec + curbed supplies. Sean Lim Ooi Leong, Head of Regional Oil & Gas, RHB Investment Bank tells us that is the sole reason for the price surge and what are the buying opportunities in this space.
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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is committed to a fiscal deficit target of 3.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2025. In order to achieve this, he will need fiscal and procurement discipline, and 2 new legislations should help, with the Government Procurement Act and Fiscal Responsibility Act mooted. To help us understand the new legislations, we speak with Sri Murniati Yusuf, Chief Operating Officer, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS).

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Recently, Malaysiakini released a five-part series on the issue of statelessness in the country. One of the stories featured was about a stateless boy in Sabah with HIV who passed away after skipping and delaying his HIV treatments due to expensive payments required by the hospital. We ask Dr Hartini Zainuddin, Co-Founder of Yayasan Chow Kit how many more are impacted and what the remedy is.

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The gig economy is becoming an increasingly attractive option for school leavers who want to earn an income without pursuing a tertiary education. But is this a sustainable livelihood and how might this trend impede efforts to become a high-income nation? We discuss the phenomena and policy recommendations that should be considered with  Prof. Dr. Chin Yee Whah of Universiti Sains Malaysia.

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The gig economy is becoming an increasingly attractive option for school leavers who want to earn an income without pursuing a tertiary education. But is this a sustainable livelihood and how might this trend impede efforts to become a high-income nation? We discuss the phenomena and policy recommendations that should be considered with  Prof. Dr. Chin Yee Whah of Universiti Sains Malaysia.

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For the 1st half of this year, Malaysia has attracted 132.6 billion ringgit in approved investments, with the top countries being Singapore, Japan, the Netherlands, and China. Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (MITI) Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Aziz is confident that approved investments will hit the annual target of 220 billion ringgit. Today we speak with Nordin Abdullah, Vice Chairman of the Malaysia Australian Business Council to get his opinion on this goal and where Malaysia's FDI is heading.

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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim made a whirlwind day trip to China on Sunday, marking his second official visit in just 6 months. Angeline Tan, Researcher in the Foreign Policy and Security Studies Programme, ISIS Malaysia discusses the main outcomes of the visit, as well as the policy priorities of President Xi Jinping.

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