The Parliament building in Kuala Lumpur. The current Parliamentary session, the last sitting this year, will take place from Oct 3 to Nov 29, as opposed to the initial schedule of Oct 25 to Dec 15. (Photo by Zahid Izzani Mohd Said/The Edge)
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 5): The Supply (Budget) Bill 2023, which will pave way for Budget 2023, was tabled for first reading in the morning session of the Dewan Rakyat here on Wednesday (Oct 5).
“Mr Speaker, I hereby table the Supply (Budget) Bill 2023 [for first reading]. [The second reading,] Mr Speaker, will be held on Friday, Oct 7, 2022 at 4pm,” said Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah.
The first reading is mostly seen as just a formality, when only the title of the Bill is read out in the Dewan Rakyat.
Notably, this was after the early resumption of Parliament this week, with all eyes fixed on the tabling of the Bill on Friday, three weeks earlier than originally scheduled.
The rare move of bringing forward the upcoming Budget — last done in 1999 — raised heated speculation that the 15th general election will be called soon. The polls must be held before Sept 14, 2023, as the dissolution of Parliament — if not called for earlier by the King — will automatically happen on July 16, 2023.
The current Parliamentary session, the last sitting this year, will take place from Oct 3 to Nov 29, as opposed to the initial schedule of Oct 25 to Dec 15.
The Budget will then need to be passed by the Members of Parliament in the third reading and subsequently by the Dewan Negara. Should Parliament be dissolved before that, the Budget will need to be retabled. The new government may choose to retable the same draft Bill to the House.
The first time Parliament was dissolved prior to Budget approval was on Oct 29, 1999, when then finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin tabled Budget 2000. Parliament was dissolved soon after the tabling, followed by a snap election exactly one month later on Nov 29.
Before proceeding with a full-year Budget, the new government then tabled a “mini” Budget, with provisions for two to three months of government expenditures. Daim then tabled Budget 2000 again in the Dewan Rakyat on Feb 29, 2000.
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