KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — Putrajaya may consider increasing the funds allocated for flood relief from RM500 million, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has said as large swathes of the country are inundated.

“I think the amount may not be enough. Maybe, there is a need to consider increasing the allocation,” he was quoted saying yesterday by New Straits Times.

Najib also said any extra revenue generated by Malaysia’s growing economy could be used to help those hit by the floods.

“Our economy is growing and next year, hopefully, we will generate higher revenue through the goods and services tax implementation. We will use the extra funds to help the flood victims,” he said.

The goods and services tax (GST) will kick in this April 1, replacing the current sales and services tax (SST).

In his last Budget speech, Najib, also Malaysia’ finance minister, said GST is expected to rake in RM23.2 billion although the final figure would be much smaller due to goods exempt from the consumption tax and as the government forgoes sales taxes established previously at RM3.8 billion and RM13.8 billion respectively.

Out of the RM5.6 billion left, RM4.9 billion will be handed back to the public through government aid such as the cash handout Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia, leaving Putrajaya with a net revenue collection from GST of only RM690 million, Najib said.

Yesterday, the Finance Ministry rejected claims that Putrajaya had only set aside RM9.3 million in the Budget 2015 for flood relief, saying that the amount is for running the National Security Council’s (NSC) disaster unit.

“The amount quoted is meant for the administrative expenses for the running of the council’s national disaster division such as the payment of salaries and allowances,” the ministry’s secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah was quoted saying in a statement by The Star.

Serigar said instead that Putrajaya had earmarked an additional RM70 million in Budget 2015’s National Disaster Relief Fund. The RM70 million fund is separate from the RM217 million that was already in NSC’s funds as of December 15.

He was reported as saying the Finance Ministry’s Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) had also gave a special RM50 million allocation when the floods became more critical, adding that Najib had approved RM500 million to the NSC.