Responses of firms and households to government expenditure in Malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal

This paper estimated the reactions of firms and households to the change of government expenditure from fuel subsidies to two alternative fiscal regimes, including the expansion of government expenditure on agricultural investment and direct cash transfers. Outcomes brought by the government expendi...

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Main Authors: Loo, Sze Ying, Mukaramah Harun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2019
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14116/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14116/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14116/1/jeko_53%282%29-3.pdf
id ukm-14116
recordtype eprints
spelling ukm-141162020-02-06T13:35:04Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14116/ Responses of firms and households to government expenditure in Malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal Loo, Sze Ying Mukaramah Harun, This paper estimated the reactions of firms and households to the change of government expenditure from fuel subsidies to two alternative fiscal regimes, including the expansion of government expenditure on agricultural investment and direct cash transfers. Outcomes brought by the government expenditure changes to outputs of production for firms, together with the household consumption expenditure, were taken into account. This study was carried out by using a Löfgren-based computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The findings showed that complete fuel withdrawal was found to have adverse impacts on firms and households. The withdrawal of subsidy brought a lackluster performance in domestic production. Firms that needed large amounts of fuel products to produce outputs were greatly affected. Besides, households of all segments faced large consumption loss. Nevertheless, the resulting adverse impacts on firms and households could be minimized with the implementation of mitigation measures along with the subsidy reform. The additional fund transfer to the agricultural sector had the merits of improving domestic production and minimizing the consumption loss of the population. In contrast, the direct cash transfer benefited the target population -- the medium- and low-income segments in the urban and rural areas. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2019 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14116/1/jeko_53%282%29-3.pdf Loo, Sze Ying and Mukaramah Harun, (2019) Responses of firms and households to government expenditure in Malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal. Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, 53 (2). pp. 1-13. ISSN 0127-1962 http://www.ukm.my/fep/jem/content/2019-2.html
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution Universiti Kebangasaan Malaysia
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description This paper estimated the reactions of firms and households to the change of government expenditure from fuel subsidies to two alternative fiscal regimes, including the expansion of government expenditure on agricultural investment and direct cash transfers. Outcomes brought by the government expenditure changes to outputs of production for firms, together with the household consumption expenditure, were taken into account. This study was carried out by using a Löfgren-based computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The findings showed that complete fuel withdrawal was found to have adverse impacts on firms and households. The withdrawal of subsidy brought a lackluster performance in domestic production. Firms that needed large amounts of fuel products to produce outputs were greatly affected. Besides, households of all segments faced large consumption loss. Nevertheless, the resulting adverse impacts on firms and households could be minimized with the implementation of mitigation measures along with the subsidy reform. The additional fund transfer to the agricultural sector had the merits of improving domestic production and minimizing the consumption loss of the population. In contrast, the direct cash transfer benefited the target population -- the medium- and low-income segments in the urban and rural areas.
format Article
author Loo, Sze Ying
Mukaramah Harun,
spellingShingle Loo, Sze Ying
Mukaramah Harun,
Responses of firms and households to government expenditure in Malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal
author_facet Loo, Sze Ying
Mukaramah Harun,
author_sort Loo, Sze Ying
title Responses of firms and households to government expenditure in Malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal
title_short Responses of firms and households to government expenditure in Malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal
title_full Responses of firms and households to government expenditure in Malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal
title_fullStr Responses of firms and households to government expenditure in Malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal
title_full_unstemmed Responses of firms and households to government expenditure in Malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal
title_sort responses of firms and households to government expenditure in malaysia: evidence for the fuel subsidy withdrawal
publisher Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
publishDate 2019
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14116/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14116/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/14116/1/jeko_53%282%29-3.pdf
first_indexed 2023-09-18T20:06:22Z
last_indexed 2023-09-18T20:06:22Z
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