SHAH ALAM, July 2 — The Selangor government will increase its development expenditure as the state’s reserves have swelled over the years to RM2.8 billion in May, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim said today.

The Selangor mentri besar also told the state legislative assembly here that he forecast additional reserves of RM1 billion every seven years if resources are managed well, but did not specify how the state’s reserves grew since Pakatan Rakyat (PR) took over the country’s wealthiest state in 2008.

“The bigger the reserves, the bigger the expenditure should be,” said Khalid.

“Each year, expenses must increase because we must increase the development expenditure. So, it’s not static,” he added.

Khalid said that the state’s reserves were RM1.4 billion in 2008, RM1.5 billion in 2010, RM1.9 billion in 2011, and RM2.6 billion in 2012.

His critics have often accused the former government-linked company (GLC) head of being tight-fisted with state funds.

Khalid reportedly admitted at the recent PKR congress his stinginess and promised to develop rural villages in Selangor.

Khalid was reappointed as the head of the Selangor government for a second term after PR won two-thirds majority of the state assembly in Election 2013.