He said the remark by Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan in the Negeri Sembilan state assembly was a “casual allegation”, dismissing it as irresponsible, untrue and easily debunked.

In a statement, he said Putrajaya’s revenue in the third quarter of 2019 was RM68.8 billion while its emoluments were RM19.9 billion.

He added that Malaysia’s credit ratings remained stable at A3 or A-, saying any move to borrow in order to pay salaries would lead to an immediate downgrade in the nation’s rating.

“All borrowings raised by the government are to finance the fiscal deficit and development expenditures, as was done under previous administrations.

“The federal government is capable of paying its civil servants and meeting its other financial obligations, unlike the situation faced by the Kelantan government.

“Clearly, Mohamad has pointed to the wrong target and should be referring to the Kelantan government instead of the federal government,” he said.

Lim added that his ministry had approved on Oct 14 an advance of RM100 million for Kelantan’s operational costs, including the salaries of civil servants until the end of 2019.