MALAYSIA'S government is likely to spend some RM200 billion (US$55.37 billion) in the 2010 budget, the country's incoming prime minister said today. In the highlights of a speech handed out ahead of the formal acceptance of the leadership handover, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said to date RM206 billion had been allocated to the 2009 budget plus RM7 billion in an additional spending and RM60 billion in supplementary spending over 2009 and 2010.
Najib was speaking at the annual meeting of the United Malays National Organisation, the main party of the coalition that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years. He has taken over as party president and will become prime minister next week. - Reuters