SHAH ALAM, Oct 30 — Selangor has turned its RM452.5-million deficit budget for this year into a current surplus of RM 552.58 million due to reduced government spending, Mentri Besar Azmin Ali revealed today.
Azmin said that while projected revenue rose to RM2.05 billion against the projected RM1.97 billion, public expenditure was sharply lower, with the government having spent just RM1.5 billion up to September 30 2015.
“By end of this year, the state’s revenue is expected to increase to RM 2.24 billion and would record a surplus of RM 274 million,” Azmin said in tabling the state’s 2016 Budget in the Selangor State Legislative Assembly here.
Azmin today tabled a deficit budget of RM2.88 billion, said to be the biggest spending plan in the state’s history.
The budget, themed ‘Developing Smart Selangor That Cares’, has expenditure outstripping the projected RM2.25 billion in revenue by RM630 million.
RM1.44 billion will go towards operating expenditure and RM1.44 billion is for development, the most the state has ever set aside for the purpose.
This is the second deficit budget tabled by the Selangor government since 2008 when Barisan Nasional (BN) first lost the state.
For development efforts, Azmin allocated RM1.07 billion for road infrastructure development and drainage works, the construction of new water treatment plant and land reclamation works.
He also allocated RM208.07 million for social development, RM150.9 million for economic development and RM10 million for urban development efforts.
