KUALA LUMPUR – The federal government recorded a revenue of RM264.415 billion last year, a 13.5%, or RM31.532 billion, increase from 2018.
Operating expenditure approved last year amounted to RM260.547 billion, while actual expenditure amounted to RM263.343 billion, said the Auditor-General’s Report 2019 on the federal government’s financial statement released today.
“Expenses due to national debt (interest, dividends and other charges) amounted to RM32.933 billion, or 12.5% of the operating expenses.
“This expenditure increased by a total of RM2.386 billion, or 7.8%, compared to 2018, which amounted to RM83.05 billion because it was not budgeted for under the management allocation, but paid directly from the Consolidated Loan Account.”
On ministries and federal departments’ development expenditure, the report said RM54.173 billion, or 104.6%, was spent from the allocation approved last year.
It said Putrajaya had a RM51.37 billion deficit, with a deficit-gross domestic product ratio of 3.4%.
“The deficit was offset by new loans amounting to RM138.559 billion, and of the total loans, RM83.05 billion, or 59.9%, was used to repay matured debts.
“The federal debt stood at RM792.998 billion, a 7% increase compared with RM741.094 billion in 2018.”
Of the total debt, 96.4% was domestic debt, with the balance of 3.6% being offshore loans.
An audit of state governments’ financial statements for the year ended December 2019 found that all 13 administrations’ statements were given opinions without reprimand.
The National Audit Department has conducted 28 compliance audits at the state government level, involving one ministry in Sarawak, 23 departments and 14 state agencies.
“Among the main findings are occurrences of irregular payments, revenue not collected in an orderly manner, and weaknesses in government procurement.”
The report said Putrajaya’s 2019 financial statement will be be uploaded to the National Audit Department website after its presentation in the Dewan Rakyat.
The public may view it online from 10am tomorrow. – Bernama, November 5, 2020
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