SHAH ALAM, 11 Apr: The balanced budget presented by the State Government over the past few years is a strategic move based on the annual revenue.
The Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, said that each week, financial projections will be seriously monitored to ensure that each project uses public funds properly.
He said that the state budget strategy is estimating revenue and if there is a surplus in revenue, the State Government will propose a supplementary budget.
“This is because the State Government has adequate funds and has little debt because the concept of debt cannot be done by the State Government if it is not approved by the Federal Government or the bank.
“Therefore, we are able to make better financial projections because we monitor the current situation of the state’s finances on a weekly basis,” he said when presenting the Supplementary Supply Bill in the State Assembly session.
Abdul Khalid said that he implemented this budget to balance reserves to be taken care of well and is sustainable.
“If we implement a deficit budget and we borrow from them both (Federal Government and bank), it will not be fun. That is why I increased the state’s reserves from RM1 billion to RM3 billion because if anything happens to the state, at least we have two years’ worth of revenue.
“However, if people ask, is this strange? It is not,” he said.
The state budget, from 2008 to 2013, has been presented in a balanced manner, in line with the state’s revenue.
“We take this into account because Selangor must spend adequate revenue received.
“For example, in 2009, we estimated RM1.4 billion, but we found that the budget had to be increased, because we had high revenue, RM1.76 billion, I increased the budget by RM700 million,” he said.
In 2008, the State Government presented an additional budget of RM828 million, 2009 (RM700 million), 2010 (RM597 million), 2011 (RM620 million), 2012 (RM667 million) and 2013 (RM712 million).
“The state financial officials must close the account at all times because the state has the discipline of safeguarding state finances well.
“I have brought the state to a level that has good financial management procedures and it has been recognised since 2008; we received a four star recognition.
“So of course, the when Assemblymen come in contact with disciplined state finances, it is because we do not arbitrarily give out provisions,” he said.
