KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has chalked up debts of up to RM3.8bil from federal loans and bonds issued for various development projects.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said steps needed to be taken to pay back the RM1bil bond that is due for full repayment by December 2019.
“Our annual aim is to plan a Budget that does not exceed our income,” he said when winding up the debate on the motion of thanks on the opening speech by Yang di-Pertua Negri Tun Juhar Mahiruddin yesterday.
“This means that for each year, we will plan for a Budget that is not more than our expected expenditure. The state has also allocated a total of RM150.7mil annually to pay back loans to the federal government within a 20-year period.”
He said if the state was able to discipline itself to do this, it would have a controlled and healthy financial status.
Shafie said as of June 18, public monies (wang awam) stood at RM3.3bil, out of which the consolidated revenue account amounted to RM1.6bil and consolidated trust account, RM1.7bil.
He said the state’s working capital was enough to sustain daily operations and payments.
On other developments, the 20% oil royalty, as well as 40% of returns from the state nett revenue to Sabah, would continue to be among the main agenda fought for by the state government, he added.
Shafie said these were among the many initiatives taken by the government to boost income for the state.
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