Mohideen Abdul Kader, the President of the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP), said the budget fulfilled the association’s expectations for the most part.

“CAP feels that the budget, which is quite comprehensive, covered a number of areas that had not been touched in previous years, such as the promotion of sustainable energy and development.

“We are also looking forward to the implementation of targeted subsidies and seeing how it will be carried out,” he told FMT.

Mohideen said the rise in subsidy allocation from RM64 billion to RM81 billion was justified, considering the “ambitious and comprehensive” coverage and the need to account for inflation.

The federal budget, which was presented by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday, proposed a phased implementation of targeted subsidies with the savings redirected to the Rahmah Cash Aid programme, to ensure a larger amount could be given to those in need.

It was also proposed that the allocation for the Rahmah Cash Aid programme be increased from RM8 billion to RM10 billion next year.

Meanwhile, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) CEO Saravanan Thambirajah said he welcomes the government’s initiatives in tackling the rise in the cost of living.

“This budget is the people’s budget and is a more targeted approach to subsidies and as we can see, the subsidies will be channelled to those who really deserve it,” he added.

However, despite the numerous incentives in terms of subsidies designed to alleviate the cost of living, Saravanan said the budget could also have done more on the issue of minimum wage.