By Chester Tay

Malaysia's 2021 budget roped in the country's four largest glove makers to commit up to 400 million ringgit ($96.5 million) to battle the Covid-19 pandemic.

Top Glove Corp. Bhd., Hartalega Holdings Bhd., Supermax Corp. Bhd. and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd. have committed to bear part of the cost for Covid-19 vaccines and healthcare equipment to battle the pandemic, the Southeast Asia nation's finance minister, Zafrul Abdul Aziz, told Parliament in his budget presentation on Friday.

Mr. Zafrul said supplies of Covid-19 vaccines are expected to cost over MYR3 billion based on the country's requirement.

Under the government's 2021 budget, which amounted to MYR322.54 billion, Mr. Zafrul also announced more individual tax exemptions to increase disposable income.

Other measures include MYR15 billion allocated for public transport infrastructure, MYR1.2 billion to build affordable housing, as well as stamp-duty exemption to increase home ownership among Malaysians.

Mr. Zafrul also said Malaysia intends to resume the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail project, which is pending further negotiations with the island nation's government.

Write to Chester Tay at chester.tay@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-06-20 0530ET