Malaysia slashes 2017 defence budget
The defence budget announced by Malaysia on 21 October has taken a serious slash compared to a year earlier. The amount allocated to the Ministry of Defence for 2017 is MYR15.06 billion (US$3.6 billion), equating to a 13% drop.
The budget has fallen to 2012 levels, and it represents the largest single cutback since 1998.
Most of the budget is for emolument or management expenses (MYR11.68 billion), but it also includes a development expenditure for buying new equipment. The latter has suffered an MYR440 million reduction to MYR3.37 billion, the new figure representing the lowest development expenditure since 2014.
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