Communications and Multimedia Minister Salleh Said Keruak said what was seldom talked about was that Sarawak had reserves of RM27 billion and when Adenan Satem took over as chief minister in 2014, he announced a surplus budget.

Writing in his blog today and quoting several news reports, Salleh made comparisons between Sarawak and the two states – Penang and Selangor – in terms of state budget.

He noted that in November 2015, the DAP-led Penang state government announced a deficit budget for the fifth year running and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the deficit would, however, be covered by the state’s accumulated savings of RM880 million.

The PKR-led Selangor state government, on the other hand, announced reserves of roughly RM3.5 billion and this they said was proof that they were a capable government because the latest figures were a slight improvement from what it used to be pre-2008 before they took over the state, Salleh said.

He said Selangor, in November last year also announced the largest deficit in the state’s history in its RM2.9 billion budget.

Salleh said the main income for both Penang and Selangor were derived from the sale of land, land premiums and property taxes.

On expenditure, Salleh said only about 25% of Sarawak’s expenditure was for operating costs while the bulk was for development.

In comparison, Selangor spent 50% of its expenditure on operating costs while Penang spent 75%, he said.

– BERNAMA