PUTRAJAYA, October 17 - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim took time today to check on the final preparations for Budget 2025 at the Ministry of Finance here.

Anwar, who arrived at 9.40 am, was greeted by Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying, and Treasury Secretary-General Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican.

Also present to welcome the Prime Minister, who is also Finance Minister,  were Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar and Public Service Director-General Tan Sri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz.

Anwar later took group photos with the top management teams involved in the preparation of Budget 2025 in the main lobby of the Ministry of Finance.

A total of 213 people are involved in preparing Budget 2025, comprising the Tax Team, Fiscal and Economic Team, National Budget Office Team, Budget 2025 Team, Budget 2025 Infographics Team, Budget 2025 Translation Team, Gear-up, and the Benefits Portal Team.

The Prime Minister then proceeded to a tour of the Budget 2025 operations area in Dewan Utama (Main Hall) of the ministry..

During the half-hour review, the Prime Minister also interacted with staff involved in preparing Budget 2025 in the Dewan Utama lobby.

Anwar had previously said that Budget 2025 aims to improve the living standards of the people and advance the nation’s development.

The Prime Minister will table Budget 2025 in Parliament at 4 pm tomorrow.

Themed 'Ekonomi MADANI, Negara Makmur, Rakyat Sejahtera', this will be the third budget under the MADANI government led by Anwar and the last under the 12th Malaysia Plan (2021-2025) before transitioning to the 13th Malaysia Plan for the next five years.- BERNAMA