PUTRAJAYA: The proposal to streamline several government agencies to address the issue of overlapping functions will be presented at the Cabinet meeting soon, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said the matter needed to be brought to the attention of the Cabinet first before a decision can be made.

"I had assigned the then Treasury secretary-general Datuk Seri Asri Hamidon to give several proposals to streamline several agencies and present them to the Chief Secretary to the Government.

"... and I will decide after it has been presented to the Cabinet," he said in his speech at the Ministry of Finance monthly gathering here today.

On Sept 3 last year, Anwar said that the government has established the Secretariat for the Rationalisation of Federal Statutory Bodies to address the issue of overlapping functions and to save funds.

Following that, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar announced the appointment of Asri to lead the Special Committee for the Rationalisation of Federal Statutory Bodies effective Sept 10, 2024.

Anwar also said that government agencies are not allowed to establish companies under them without approval at the highest level due to the existence of companies which have recorded losses.

"I have instructed that no company should be established under an agency without approval from the highest level because thousands of these companies are incurring huge losses.

"However, deciding to cancel these (companies) is not easy but, if it must be done, we must do it. This reflects or gives meaning to what is called institutional reform," he said.

He also urged the Public Service machinery to think and act fast to drive the country's growth.

Meanwhile, Anwar said that he and Turkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also discussed the implementation methods of policies and major strategies during their meeting yesterday.

"We emphasised the implementation of execution policies and major strategies. Several matters have been carried out well," he said.

At the gathering, Anwar also launched the Federal Government Electronic Payment System (iPayment), developed by the Accountant General's Department (JANM) to drive digital transformation of the public sector towards a cashless community.

Also present were Finance Minister II Senator Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan as well as Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying, Shamsul Azri, Public Service Director-General Tan Sri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz and Treasury Secretary-General Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican.

-- BERNAMA