KUALA LUMPUR:The Dewan Rakyat today passed the Supply Bill (RUU) 2021 for the Ministry of Finance at the committee stage.

Dewan Rakyat Speaker, Datuk Azhar Azizan Harun when announcing the voting results said that a total of 107 votes were in favour, 95 opposed while 18 MPs were not present.

The decision was made after the session provided 10 minutes to enable block voting to be conducted including giving time to the MPs to enter the hall.

This was in compliance with standard operating procedures (SOPs) that allowed only 80 MPs to enter the chamber.

Earlier, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz debated the Supply Bill 2021 at the committee stage.

He said the 2021 budget allocated RM322.5 billion, the largest expenditure in history.

The amount includes RM236.5 billion for operating expenses, RM69 billion for development and RM17 billion under the COVID-19 Fund, while another RM2 billion was allocated for contingency savings.

In the 2020 Budget announced by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government last year, a total of RM297 billion was allocated.