PETALING JAYA: The special grant for Sabah, amounting to RM600mil, is nearly 20 times higher under the Madani government than when the Opposition led the Federal Government, said Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said the special grant for Sabah had remained unchanged at RM26.7mil up to 2021.
Under the Madani government, a 2023 review resulted in a joint agreement to double the grant to RM300mil.
“In 2025, the Federal Government reviewed it again and agreed with the Sabah government to double the Special Grant to RM600mil,” he said on Wednesday (Oct 22).
Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said full payment of the RM600mil grant was completed on September 10 and handed to the Sabah government.
He said the RM600mil rate is an interim measure while both governments formulate a new mechanism to calculate future Special Grants.
The briefing followed the Kota Kinabalu High Court ruling on Friday that the Federal Government acted illegally by failing to honour Sabah’s 40% revenue entitlement for decades.
The court ordered Putrajaya to conduct a joint review with the Sabah government on the entitlement.
The review must reach agreement on Sabah’s right to 40% of Federal revenue collected from the state for every financial year from 1974 to 2021 and must start within 90 days and be completed within 180 days.
