In tit-for-tat, Azmin claims Khalid got ‘facts wrong’ on Selangor deficit budget

(Malay Mail Online) – Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali stood by his claim today that the state government had always tabled a deficit budget, insisting that his predecessor and rival Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim was wrong to claim otherwise.

Azmin told reporters at a news conference that he will address the issue during his wrap-up of the 2015 state budget, and that he could easily disprove Khalid’s figures.

“To say he (Khalid) is able to table a balanced budget for the last six years, I would advise Tan Sri Khalid to get his facts right before he says that.

“Because we can easily prove that this is not the right figures given by him,” Azmin said.

The Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman explained that when preparing the state budget, a comparison should be made between the expected expenditure with the actual earnings made by the state government.

“So if the earnings are higher than the expenditure, then you can claim that this is a surplus budget.

“But if the revenue Is less than the spending of the total budget then certainly it is a deficit budget, as simple as that,” MB Azmin explained.

Yesterday, ex-MB Khalid came out to deny that Selangor always tabled a deficit budget during his reign as mentri besar, labelling the claim by his successor Azmin as untrue and misleading.

Khalid pointed out the annual Auditor-General (A-G) reports and financial statements have shown that, although his administration had applied for annual supplementary budgets since 2008, the state always reported a surplus of funds by year-end.

He also noted that state reserves have steadily increased since 2008.

The Port Klang assemblyman said Azmin’s claims were malicious in nature and gave the impression that he had poorly managed Selangor during his term as MB.

“It is misleading to claim that Selangor has experienced a deficit budget since 2008. It has to be remembered that the riches enjoyed by Selangor in the 2015 budget are due to the responsible approach taken by the previous administration,” Khalid said in a statement here.

“It is irresponsible for the current administration to justify a deficit budget by twisting facts, which can be disproved by evidence found in financial and audit reports,” the ex-MB added.

Khalid also provided official figures showing that the additional expenses by his administration were only incurred after the state government increased its earnings through prudent spending.

On Monday, 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.

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, Khalid had 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 expenditure, while RM625 million was used for development purposes.