PETALING JAYA: Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Mustapha Sakmud has challenged opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin to present an alternative budget showing how he would cut the fiscal deficit without hurting development.
The challenge follows Hamzah’s criticism of the 2027 budget, which he said risked burdening strategic national institutions such as Petronas, Tenaga Nasional Bhd, and the Retirement Fund Inc (KWAP) with political decisions.
“The opposition leader should present a clear and detailed alternative budget proposal, including how he intends to reduce the fiscal deficit while ensuring national development, particularly in Sabah and Sarawak, continues” Mustapha said in a statement.
He said the falling deficit showed the government was managing the country’s finances prudently to ease the debt burden on future generations.
“Numbers do not lie. The country’s fiscal deficit reached 6.4% of GDP in 2021 and 5.5% in 2022," he said.
“But since this administration, the deficit has continued to fall from 5% in 2023 to 4.1% in 2024 and 3.7% in 2025.”
Mustapha said the deficit was projected to fall to 3.6% this year and 3.3% in 2027, while the federal government’s new borrowings dropped from about RM100 billion a year in 2021 and 2022 to RM75.6 billion in 2025.
He also said the 2027 budget allocated RM18.7 billion to Sabah and RM16.2 billion to Sarawak, totalling RM34.9 billion, or RM2.2 billion more than last year.
“This is proof that fiscal discipline does not prevent the government from continuing to implement the country’s development agenda,” he said.