Selangor always tabled deficit budgets under Khalid, MB Azmin says

(Malay Mail Online) – Azmin Ali today defended his tabling of a RM2.4 billion state budget for 2015, saying that Selangor has always had a deficit budget under his predecessor and rival Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

The Selangor Mentri Besar explained that Khalid would normally table a balanced budget before adding additional expenditures and tabling this under the supplementary budget.

Comparing himself to Khalid, MB Azmin said he is taking an “honest” position by declaring outright at the initial tabling of the state budget how much his administration would be spending, without adding any supplementary figures in the future.

“The figures from 2008 to 2014 have all been a deficit budget,” Azmin told reporters at a news conference here.

“What he (Khalid) did before this was to table a budget and then come up with additional expenditures.

“I feel that is not a smooth process. It is better for me to come clean from the start and explain to the House and taxpayers.

“I am not hiding any figures and we will closely monitor the amount we will spend next year,” the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman added.

Earlier today MB Azmin tabled a RM2.4-billion state budget for 2015, the biggest in its history and over half a billion more than last year’s expenditure.

The 2015 state budget expenditure exceeds Selangor’s estimated RM1.97 billion revenue for next year.

“Based on the state government’s strong and convincing financial position, the state government has proposed an estimated RM2,422,500,000 to accomplish all the state government’s plans especially for programmes aimed at the people’s well-being,” Azmin said at the start of his speech here.

Out of the total RM2.4 billion, an estimated RM2.35 billion will be taken from the state consolidated fund that currently has a total of RM3.31 billion.

From the RM2.4 billion, RM1.29 billion (53.19 per cent) will be utilised for Selangor’s operating expenditure while the remaining RM1.13 billion (46.81 per cent) will used for development purposes.

In contrast, Azmin’s predecessor, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, tabled a RM1.85 billion state budget for 2014, then considered the biggest amount in Selangor’s history.

In the 2014 state budget, RM1.225 billion (66.2 per cent) was used for operating expenditures while RM625 million was used for development purposes.