Government focuses on four key areas in 2023 Budget

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will enhance its four key areas which consist of governance, public service delivery, disaster risk management and strengthening the resilience of public health, in next year's budget.

According to the 2023 Pre-Budget Statement issued by the Ministry of Finance (MOF) today, the National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) initiatives are still being pursued and the progress of implementation by relevant agencies is consistently monitored to ensure the initiatives are in line with the NACP.

It said in ongoing efforts to strengthen public sector governance and enhance institutional reform initiatives, the NACP was launched in 2019 to fight corruption and improve integrity.

"The five-year plan outlined six priority areas to be given focus, namely political governance, public sector administration, public procurement, legal and judicial, law enforcement and corporate governance," it said.

On public service delivery, the statement stated that the government will continue to prioritise transformation of the public service delivery to be more efficient and effective in meeting the needs of the people.

"Emphasis will be given to developing high-performing public services, improving the efficiency of service delivery while strengthening accountability and transparency of governance.

"Efforts to increase digital technology utilisation among the civil servants will be intensified to improve the quality of service and productivity of government services," it said.

The statement said that in ensuring that the public service remains relevant, the public service ecosystems and mechanisms will be strengthened through better cooperation and coordination between the government and stakeholders to realign the service delivery to be more facilitative and data-driven to ensure a robust evidence-based policy-making process is practised.

"Going forward, Budget 2023 will continue to explore areas to strengthen public-private collaboration in the delivery of public services including exploring alternative service delivery mechanisms leveraging on NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and civil society to support the delivery of social programmes," it said.

For disaster risk management, the statement mentioned measures will be put in place to develop proper integrated early warning systems as well as the implementation of flood mitigation projects in high-risk areas.

It said attention will also be given to strengthen the government's early response measures and coordination whenever Malaysia is faced with disasters such as floods and landslides that hit several parts of the country.

According to the statement, in the area of strengthening the resilience of public health, the government will empower primary health as the front line for healthcare services in which initiatives that play a role in providing holistic health management services, more robust and promotive wellness programmes with disease prevention through community health will be introduced.

"Not to forget, poor clinics in the country will be upgraded gradually. In addition, the government will focus on the improvement of buildings and health facilities as well as the adaptation of new technologies and precision medicine.

"Furthermore, the government will focus on the social agenda as well as healthcare to the elderly generation so that they can live a prosperous and healthy life," it said, adding that the government will further strengthen its public health function, especially in disease surveillance and crisis preparedness in the future in ensuring the country is able to overcome such crises without affecting the wellbeing of the people and the country's economy.

It said in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the efficiency of the national health system can be improved through organised and extensive digitization of health information whereby data sharing and service integration between various public and private sector service providers will take place efficiently and securely.

"Therefore, the people will be able to experience the continuity of health services with complete information when getting services from various facilities. The use of big data and artificial intelligence, as well as comprehensive analytics, will strengthen evidence-based policy planning," the statement read.

-- BERNAMA