Next Budget to be unveiled Aug 29

PUTRAJAYA: Budget 2009 will be announced on Aug 29, marking the last time the Budget would tabled at Parliament before the fasting month begins.
"This means Budget day will be back to its original schedule on the fourth Friday of October," said Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.
"Despite the period between the tabling of the last Budget and the next one looking very short, it's actually workable.
"Budget consultations for the various sectors will start very soon," he told reporters after attending the ministry's monthly gathering here on Monday.
The ministry aimed to reduce its Budget deficit to 3.1% this year from 3.2%. last year, he said. Malaysia was also optimistic of achieving at least a 6% growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this year, although the ministry had yet to receive the figure for the last quarter.
"Growth for the third quarter was on the up-trend at around 6.7%. Given this, we should be able to achieve higher than 6% in the last quarter.
"For this year, our forecast is around 6% to 6.5%. This is despite uncertainties in the US market and the rising crude oil prices," he said.
On the subprime crisis in the United States and other external factors, he said, "We have gone through these problems before."
"Our stock market reflects this by shooting past 1,500 points last Friday. Four years ago, it was hovering around 790 points with a market capitalisation of around RM640bil, and our per capita income was around RM15,819.
"Today, market capitalisation is almost RM1.2 trillion and per capita income has risen to RM22,345. This means that in the last four years, we have created an increased wealth of 86.5% or over RM500bil in our stock market," he said.-www.thestar.com.my