He said the state’s financial position as of June 18, 2018, indicated that public funds totalled RM3.3054 billion.
“From that total, only 48.7%, or RM1.6089 billion, belongs to the Sabah state government for the consolidated revenue account.
“The remaining 51.3%, or RM1.6965 billion, is held in trust for the consolidated trust account and therefore cannot be spent by the government,” Chua said in a statement tonight.
At the recent state assembly sitting on Thursday, Luyang assemblyman Phoong Jin Zhe had asked Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal for the current financial position of the state government.
In his reply at the assembly sitting on Thursday, the chief minister, who also holds the finance ministry portfolio, said the state government had no arrears in loan payments to the federal government.
He said the state was looking into how best to settle the RM1 billion bond that is due to be paid in full when it matures on Dec 9, 2019.
Shafie said the state government’s liabilities consisted of loans from the federal government, which totalled RM2.871 billion, and issued bonds at RM1 billion.
However, the chief minister said there was sufficient working capital to sustain necessary daily expenditure.
He said the state government had allocated RM150.7 million annually for loan payments to the federal government over a period of 20 years at zero interest rate for loans that would be used for projects that benefit the people, such as water supply and sewerage management; and at 4% interest rate for commercial projects secured by KKIP Sdn Bhd and Saham Sabah Bhd.
Further, he said the state government would continue with efforts to claim 40% of Sabah’s nett revenue from the federal government as a special grant for the state, in line with Sabah’s rights under the constitution.
The chief minister said the matter was being studied and, if necessary, the previous Sabah Special Grant Review Committee would be revived to enable negotiations between the state and federal governments to resume.
The state government would also continue to negotiate with the federal government to review oil royalties, for it to be increased from 5% to 20%.
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