Kuala Lumpur

PRIME Minister Najib Razak's fiscal targets are under siege for a second year as an oil rout forces a reassessment of public spending plans to keep the Malaysian budget from being busted.

The budget gap may be as high as 4 per cent of gross domestic product compared with a target of 3.1 per cent if there are no changes to current expenditure plans, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Mr Najib will announce cuts to operating expenditure and revisions in growth forecasts on Jan 28, a finance ministry official said on Wednesday.