In a statement, the finance ministry said Putrajaya has not awarded any new communications contracts this year.

It said the government will limit its expenditure on advertising, promotion and publicity to within RM100 million next year, which is “half the previous average expenditure”.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim revealed the previous two administrations spent RM700 million from 2020 to 2022 to promote the government.

Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the bulk of the spending was handled by the Prime Minister’s Office for advertisements and media buys to promote government initiatives.

He said RM500 million was spent during Muhyiddin Yassin’s tenure and RM200 million during Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration.

Following this, Muhyiddin, who is the Perikatan Nasional chairman, accused Anwar of attempting to smear the coalition’s image. He said the advertisements on billboards, television and radio were focused on Covid-19 related messages, including on aid and stimulus packages, after Malaysia was hit by the pandemic.

He also called out Anwar for reneging on his promise not to waste public funds on billboards.

“Yet, today, we see huge Madani billboards everywhere,” he said.