KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 19 — The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA) claims it has used up almost all of its development budget and rebukes an article from an online portal claiming it has more than 40 per cent of its development budget left.

MEA in a statement said an article by Malaysiakini titled ‘Kementerian Hal Ehwal Ekonomi catat baki peruntukan pembangunan terbanyak’ was misleading and irresponsible as it does not reflect the actual figures.

“With reference to the said article in Malaysiakini, we insist this article is done irresponsibly and is an attempt to confuse the people regarding the ministry’s budget allocation for development for 2019.

“The expenditures of the ministry till 19 December 2019 is at 99.6 per cent. The article in the news portal was written based on the financial status in November 2019 and does not reflect the latest expenditures which have increased since the payment processes have gone through,” MEA said in a statement.

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The article in question said that five ministries have more than 40 per cent of their 2019 development budget allocation left over with MEA leading the way at 51.3 per cent followed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports (44.2 per cent), Ministry of International Trade and Industry (43.3 per cent), Ministry of Health (42.5 per cent) and Ministry of Defence (40 per cent).

It took the information from the Implementation Coordination Unit which is based in the Prime Minister’s Office.

MEA however said that most of the ministries have spent more than 90 per cent of its development budget and there should be no issue raised on money not spent by the ministry.

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“All the ministries have spent more than 90 per cent of their budget allocation for 2019. Based on that, there shouldn’t be an issue raised regarding the ministries expenditure for development,” the statement continued.

Not spending your development money could be seen as a ministry having a lack of ideas for activities or a lack of investments in projects. It is a direct reflection of the ministries actions and productivity throughout the year.