SHAH ALAM, 19 Nov: The benefits of prudent spending practices enable the state government to not table a deficit budget and not borrow from the central government to cover expenses since governing Selangor for five years.
The Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, said that the fiscal and monetary management can be an example to other states and the central government.
He said that the state government has also introduced the practice of checking the budget periodically every six months, while the State Treasury has been urged to balance financial statement each month.
“That way, we can monitor the balance of state spending so as to not spend beyond means and causing a deficit,” he said when tabling the Selangor Budget 2014 at the State Assembly today.
Abdul Khalid said that basically, the state revenue derives from Tax Revenue, Non-Tax Revenue and Non-Revenue Receipts.
“Spending is then divided into two main components, Management Expenditure and Development Expenditure, while savings reserves are in the form of cash or investment assets,” he said.
Meanwhile, Abdul Khalid said that the Pakatan Rakyat Alternative Budget 2014 highlights a taxation concept which more progressive, more accessible and accountable, as well as having a variety of mechanisms that ensure fiscal discipline.
He said that the Barisan Nasional (BN) budget is more focused on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to diversify national income but does not explore other income generating methods.
“All of PR’s proposals can make Malaysia achieve a balanced budget by 2017 or latest by 2018. BN’s Budget does not try to address budget problems when only subsidies and development expenditure becomes the victims of reductions, but other components in management expenditure is projected to soar,” he said.
