Research coordinator for Asia-Pacific at the International Budget Partnership (IBP) Suad Hasan said Malaysia scored average when it came to providing information or allowing public participation on budgeting processes in a budget transparency survey for the 2020 budget.

She said the country was providing limited information, which did not allow citizens to meaningfully engage with the government.

“One of the most important areas where Malaysia could improve is on information related to debt, and we know that this becomes all the more important during this crisis.

“Citizens have a right to know how the country is going to pay for the debt incurred during this time and what that means to the long-term finances of the country.”

Speaking at a forum organised by the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), she argued that Malaysia could also improve on reporting the full financial situation, beyond debts incurred,

“The country’s entire fiscal situation can be assessed also by the assets and liabilities that are on the balance sheets – financial assets as well as non-financial assets. These, as recorded in our survey, are not reported in the budget documents.”

She added that there was also lack of information on extra-budgetary funds (public resources and government transactions that are not included in the annual budget), arguing that this was quintessential in understanding the country’s entire fiscal situation.

She said huge amounts of money had been transferred through extra-budgetary measures and that often these went unrecorded.

“In some way, this is hurting the trust of citizens for the government during this time.”

The 2021 Budget will be tabled by the Perikatan Nasional government on Nov 6, 2020.