Kota Kinabalu: Head of State Tun Juhar Mahiruddin urged Board of Directors and management of government-linked companies (GLCs) to redouble their efforts to enhance revenues and dividends.
He said they must also be trustworthy, have integrity and implement good governance in GLCs to ensure that its original purpose, which was the principle of increasing shareholders’ wealth, is achieved and that dividends given to investors such as the State Government, can be increased.
“Part of the government’s revenue comes from investments in State GLCs with dividend receipts in 2022 amounting to RM152 million which showed an increase of 30 per cent compared to 2021 with a collection of RM116.35 million.
“I believe this number can be increased further based on the available and existing potentials,” he said during his policy speech at the State Legislative Assembly.
Juhar said the State Government will continue to ensure the addition of equity in the investment of potential sectors through public agencies that will give high returns which would result in the form of dividends and contributions as return to the State Government.
In the context of empowering roles and responsibilities and improving the performance of statutory bodies and public agencies, he said it is important to ensure that each organisation is always on the right track towards achieving the objectives of the establishment and generating returns for the State Government.
In light of this, he said training and courses for the board members must be done continuously as part of the efforts to ensure that statutory bodies and public agencies are always relevant, viable and have a direction towards realising government policies.
“The State Government will continue to ensure the addition of equity in the investment of potential sectors through public agencies that will give high returns and results in the form of dividends and contributions as a return to the State Government,” he added.
Juhar said the State Government is constantly improvising financial management strategies and State budgets in the face of any uncertainty in the global and national economic environment.
Hence, he said sound financial management is the main goal of the State government in ensuring that financial resources are sufficient and equitably distributed.
He said this is to ensure that the various activities planned across all sectors can be carried out efficiently and effectively.
“The State budget management system will continue to be improved through upgrading the existing budget system and initiatives to develop new systems that can support the state budget management process in line with the state digitisation plan.
“For example, the e-Emolument system has been developed to facilitate the updating of human resource data and information of the public service in the State.
“Several other digitisation programmes were also planned to ensure financial management can be implemented efficiently such as the Development Budget System and the State Government Loan System to facilitate online monitoring and reporting of expenditure performance,” Juhar said.
In addition, he said the State Economic and Development Project Information System (SMEPPS) under the State Economic Planning Unit (Upen) is also being developed for the management of development programs and projects in the five-year development plan.
