Before Malaysia's budget pays for a single service, RM210 billion of it is already spent
Two of the government's own documents give different totals for 2026. Both are right. Here is where the money goes, in order of size.
Subsidy
Fuel, electricity, cooking oil and rice. Who receives the subsidy, what it costs the federal budget, and what the targeting actually changed.
The median Malaysian citizen's pay rose to RM2,793 in 2024. It buys what RM2,103 bought in 2010.
Malaysia's median citizen earned RM2,793 a month in 2024. Measured in 2010 ringgit it was RM2,103. Both figures are DOSM's own.