Budget 2025: Govt to Boost “War on Sugar” with 40-Cent Hike on Sugary Drinks Starting January 1st

Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim has tabled the Budget 2025 in the Parliament today (October 18).

Anwar revealed how Malaysia is among the most obese countries in Southeast Asia, and one of the main enemies of non-communicable diseases is sugar.

To back the “War on Sugar” movement, the government is looking to gradually bump up the excise duty on sugary drinks by 40 cents per litre starting January 1, 2025.

The extra money they make from this will help cover public health costs, like:

• Getting more SGLT-2 inhibitors for diabetes treatment.
• Offering Peritoneal Dialysis for end-stage kidney patients, reaching more people beyond just FELDA, which is also working on improving its dialysis centres.

To support the National Health Agenda, they’ve set aside RM27 million to boost sports and recreational activities for everyone, including organising National Sports Day.

The government also wants to widen the individual income tax relief for medical expenses to include payments for disease screening tests, buying health check-up equipment, and disease detection test kits as a step towards promoting self-care in health.

Stay tuned for more updates!