MONEY MASTER

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has targeted budget spending at his coalition’s most loyal voters, seeking to limit any damage from more than a year of political turmoil as talk turns to a potential early election. Najib Razak chases 'ultimate' win as supporters get budget goodies The premier allocated more funds for his cash handout program to the poorest 40 percent of Malaysians, promised civil servants a bonus and introduced extra assistance for farmers. He pledged more roads, bridges and better electricity and water supply for rural regions, and sought to woo younger voters with discounts on outstanding student loans and access to cheap housing in urban areas. After weathering funding scandals and attempts to topple him for a good part of his second term as premier, Najib must balance a slowing economy with keeping voters happy ahead of an election that could come as soon as March. While the opposition is fractured, it has sought to lure ethnic Malays from Na...

Malaysia's budget 2017 has been successfully tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on last Friday. In the midst of a low oil price and weak external environment, economists have said that the Budget 2017 was one that hits the right note while maintaining fiscal discipline.  The theme of the budget 2017: Accelerating growth, ensuring fiscal prudence, enhancing well-being of the Rakyat. Prime Minister Najib presenting Budget 2017 last Friday Here's a quick look on what Budget 2017 has to offer: Operating Expenditure: RM214.8bil, Development Expenditure: RM46 bil RM260.8 billion has been allocated for expenditure, representing an increase of 3.4% from previous year. According to some economists, the higher allocation for expenditure will help to drive the economy in 2017. From the breakdown, we could see that RM214.8 billion is for operating expenditure (82%) as compared to only RM46 billion for development expenditure (18%). This continu...

The FBM KLCI fell by 4.78 points or 0.3% as Budget day 2017 draws closer and speculators are looking at a possible early election in the country as well. The KLCI closed at 1,664.72 points as at closing. FBM KLCI fell by 4.78 pts as Budget day 2017 draws closer The market has been heading south throughout the day in general with the benchmark falling to as low as 1,661.58 before recovering towards the closing. There have been speculation that the upcoming budget 2017 in the country will be an election budget, creating anxieties and uncertainties on the initiatives that the government could implement. Analysts and fund managers are expecting the market to be fluctuating in the short and mid-term according to the report by theedgemarkets.com. Unlike Malaysia, Asian shares have shown slight recovery. Bursa Malaysia saw a rather low volume today with 1.49 billion shares traded, worth about RM1.85 billion. British American Tobacco (M) Bhd lead the gainers today while U...