KUALA LUMPUR: The government has tweaked its 2024 expenditure upwards from the initial allocation of RM393.8 billion to RM407.5 billion, according to the Economic Outlook 2025.
This takes into account among others, additional spending on subsidies.
"The adjustment is reflective of the government's commitment to reprioritise its expenditure plan to align public spending with economic stability and social welfare," the report said.
Of the revised amount, RM321.5 billion or 78.9 per cent is allocated to operating expenditure (OE), while the remaining RM86 billion or 21.1 per cent is earmarked for development expenditure (DE).
In terms of total allocation by sector, the social sector remains as the highest recipient, constituting RM151.2 billion or 37.1 per cent of total expenditure.
This is followed by the economic (RM64.5 billion: 15.8 per cent), security (RM40.1 billion; 9.8 per cent) and general administration (RM16.9 billion; 4.1 per cent) sectors.
Meanwhile, charged expenditures and transfer payments, which include debt service charges, retirement charges and transfers to states, account for 33.2 per cent of the total.
The total OE in 2024 is revised to RM321.5 billion from initial allocation of RM303.8 billion.
The key components comprise emoluments, subsidies and social assistance, debt service charges, supplies and services as well as retirement charges. This represents 88.8 per cent of the total OE.
The adjustment was mainly due to the increase in subsidies and social assistance, emoluments as well as retirement charges, the report said.
Nevertheless, through the rationalisation of electricity subsidy and targeted diesel subsidy, the government has managed to reallocate resources to partially offset the additional expenditure.