Johor Budget Surplus, Pulau Mutiara Budget Defisit...hmmm!

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Pembentangan budget 2 Negeri....

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Meanwhile, Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin said Johor was expected to record a budget surplus for the fourth consecutive year.

This time, the surplus was expected at RM420.22mil as of Nov 10, much higher than the RM2.02mil under Budget 2014.

He said the Government projected revenue collection at RM1.5bil by the end of the year.

“As of Nov 10, we collected RM1.318bil in revenue from the initial estimation of RM1.064bil under Budget 2015,” he said in reply to a question from Tan Hong Ping (Mengkibol-DAP).

He said from the RM1.318bil in revenue, RM899.23mil would be allocated for management expenditure.

Mohamed Khaled also told the House that the state’s coffers were strong, with cash reserves at RM2.763bil compared to RM1.799bil as of Dec 31, 2013.

From the current reserves, RM2.420bil and RM343.65mil were parked in banks as fixed deposit and cash flow respectively.

...The Star

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The view from the second Penang bridge. The state government has tabled a RM992.83-million budget for 2015. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, November 7, 2014.
The Penang government today tabled a RM992.82-million budget for 2015 with a deficit of RM230.31 million.

The budget for next year is 3.18% higher than this year's RM962 million.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said, while tabling the budget at the assembly, the estimated deficit for next year is RM25.13 million less than this year's RM255.44 million.


Lim said the state's gross domestic product (GDP) was an average of 5% compared with the national average of 4.7%.

"Our GDP increased from RM39.2 billion in 2005 to RM62.6 billion last year which was a rise of 6% annually. From this, the service sector's contribution rose to 47.1% last year from 41.5% in 2012.

"Though the manufacturing sector dropped by 6.2% to 48.4%, both this and the services sectors contributed 95.5% to the state's GDP," he said when presenting the budget themed “investing in education and generate advancement for the people's future and welfare”.

He also said the state-consolidated funds and consolidated-revenue funds had recorded a rise and debt repayment was good.

"Our consolidated funds reached RM1.29 billion for the financial year ending December 31, 2013, with an increase of RM100 million or 8.4% compared with 2012.

"We spent RM832.42 million for expenses last year compared with RM540.08 million for the same period in 2012," he said.

He said the expected revenue for 2015 is RM656.93 million, an increase of 11.77% compared with this year's revenue of RM587.75 million.

"RM131.45 million or 20% of the revenue will come from taxes, while the rest will come from non-tax revenue.

"The RM69.18 million increase in state revenue for next year is expected to come from land premium payments, namely from developments Bayan Mutiara and Batu Kawan," he said, adding that yet again it was an outcome-based budget.

Lim said the administrative expenditure for next year would be at RM887.24, up 5.22% from last year.

The higher expenses will be due to the increase in funding for the Penang Development Corporation's affordable housing scheme, and social and welfare programmes, among others.

The Pakatan Rakyat-led government has been tabling deficit budgets annually since the 2008 state budget.

In the more recent years, the deficit was estimated at RM107.78 million in 2011 and RM213.71 million in 2012. In the 2013 state budget, the state estimated a RM262.04 million deficit.

This year's budget was tabled with an estimated deficit of RM255.44 million.

But, the state had always managed to maintain its record to achieve surpluses annually, Lim said.

He said the state hoped to record another surplus for this year despite having tabled a deficit budget last year.

"In 2013, we managed to record a surplus of RM1.3 million. For this year, we don't know yet but we hope it will be another surplus," he told reporters after the state assembly adjourned this evening.

He said the estimated deficit next year would be covered by the state’s accumulated savings of RM826.58 million at the end of 2013.

Lim said the state had also factored into its budget for next year the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that will be implemented on April 1.

He also said "the budget was investing in education to win the future".

"It's very boring but it is very important, and if we can get German vocational education, that will be the biggest win for Penang and we hope to create a wave... a wave of scientific and technological education," he said.

Lim said it would be a private sector driven initiative, where the sector would decide and teach what they thought was best and most relevant for the market. – November 7, 2014.