RM9.89b S’wak Budget with focus on rural areas
Published on: Tuesday, November 05, 2019
KUCHING: In line with Sarawak’s initiatives to transform rural areas and ensure that no one is left behind, the 2020 Development Budget will continue to be rural-biased to further stimulate economic progress with a proposed Budget of RM9.891 billion, says Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
The chief minister said out of the total budget, an allocation of RM6.597 billion is for development expenditure with the remaining RM3.294 billion for operating expenditure.
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Abang Johari, who is also state Finance and Economic Planning Minister, said taking into account an estimated total revenue of RM10.067 billion and a total proposed ordinary expenditure of RM9.694 billion, the proposed 2020 Budget is expected to generate a surplus of RM373 million.
“The state has made concerted efforts to expand its revenue stream through re-engineering of its revenue base in order to enable the state to maintain its development momentum and keep up with an accelerated pace of development especially in the rural areas which require a substantial amount of funding.
“Under the 2020 State Budget, the state has decided (among others) to levy a State Sales Tax of one per cent on aluminium products that are exported out of Sarawak and to revise the tariff for the abstraction of raw water from one sen per cubic metre to 2.5 sen per cubic metre,” he said when tabling the Supply (2020) Bill at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly sitting here Monday.
Abang Johari said the 2020 State Budget continues with six key strategic thrusts aimed at stimulating the growth of the state economy towards inclusive, sustainable and equitable development for all spectrums of society.
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Apart from a development-biased and rural-focused budget in which RM4.141 billion or 63 per cent has been set aside for rural development, other thrusts include intensifying the state’s development agenda towards achieving a high-income economy by 2030, with a considerable allocation for the provision of basic facilities and amenities as well as other people-centric projects.
The digital economy would also be the key enabler of economic transformation with the creation of a comprehensive digital ecosystem and entrepreneurship culture as well as investment-driven economic growth, with the focus on higher value-added activities in the manufacturing and services sectors and resource-based industries such as oil and gas, agriculture, biotech, and timber processing.
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He said the private sector meanwhile would continue to be treated as the main engine of economic growth with the state continuing to ensure that the necessary business infrastructure and business-friendly policies are put in place.
He added that the service delivery system would be enhanced with the implementation of ‘Digital Government’ such as providing a cashless payment gateway, one-stop online services, and open data system.
Abang Johari said for the 2020 Budget, a sum of RM6.597 billion is proposed to finance various programmes and projects under the Eleventh Malaysia Plan including Rural Transformation Projects (RTPs) and various people-centric projects known as Projek Rakyat as well as Program Perumahan Rakyat Miskin Sarawak.
He said the allocation of RM6.597 billion in the 2020 State Budget however does not include the allocation for projects under alternative funding.
In driving the state development agenda forward in a more concerted and self-determining manner, he said the state could not rely on the usual method of funding development through the annual allocation from both the state and Federal budgets, which are far from sufficient especially in the funding of infrastructure projects in rural areas.
“We ought to resort to a more robust and strategic effort in managing our funding initiatives. This calls upon the state to leverage on an alternative financing model by tapping into funding provided by Development Bank of Sarawak (DBoS) as well as the capital market that offers competitive alternative funding.
“This is a sustainable platform to adopt in facilitating and providing the state with much-needed fiscal flexibility in strategising its development agenda as well as managing its cash flow moving forward.
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