'Budget 2014 likely to be a balanced one'

The budget will also be used to maintain the current economic growth as seen in the various transformation programmes undertaken by the government and the private sector.

"The issue for the budget will be on maintaining growth, making sure people at large get access to it, good public administration and yet making sure fiscal challenges are managed," he told reporters on the sidelines of the World Capital Markets Symposium 2013 here yesterday.

On the capital market, Azman said, it has shown great resilient after having gone through two major crises in the last 15 years, including the 1998 financial crisis as well as global financial crisis in 2008 triggered by Lehman Brothers Holdings woes in the US.

He attributed the resilience of Malaysia's capital market over the last 20 years to strong savings pool, well-established Islamic capital market on the back of a pool of innovative market players and credible regulators.

Moving forward, he said, the capital market should be used as part of the solution to face challenges arising from the countrys New Economic Model (NEM) and not the problem.

"It should be used as a basis to help not just growth but also the countrys development as mentioned by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in his keynote address this morning," he said.

Earlier, Najib said, Malaysians should not confuse growth with development, adding that, "achieving very high growth today does not always mean that we will be developed tomorrow, nor should we judge our development on the basis of per-capita income alone."

"We should instead aim for a much broader measure of development, one which more accurately captures improvements to the lives and futures of citizens.

"For this reason, our goal should be to optimise, not maximise; with a view on the long term, rather than immediate; to do the right thing, rather than what is expedient," he said.