KOTA KINABALU – Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor has congratulated Putrajaya over the policy-stage approval of the RM322.5 billion Budget 2021 today.
He also took note of the additional RM50 million funding for the state’s Covid-19 fight.
“Sabah has benefited from a RM3 billion federal government allocation for the fight against Covid-19 since the pandemic struck early this year, through various channels including Prihatin and Penjana.
“On behalf of the Sabah government, I would like to congratulate the Perikatan Nasional federal government for the approval given to its maiden Budget.”
The Budget was passed by a voice vote in Parliament after Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz’s winding-up speech.
The spending plan, which amounts to 20.6% of the country’s gross domestic product, is the largest in Malaysia’s history, far exceeding the previous year’s RM297 billion allocation.
Hajiji, who is also Sulaman assemblyman, assured that Sabah will work closely with the federal government to ensure all development programmes outlined in the Budget are implemented.
Putrajaya has agreed to extend the bank moratorium not just for the poor and small businesses, but also middle-income folk.
The nod has also been given for the Employees Provident Fund’s i-Sinar withdrawal facility to be extended to all contributors, while a one-off RM300 incentive will be given to non-health frontliners and a RM300 monsoon aid distributed to rubber smallholders for three months starting next month.
Meanwhile, Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin described the Budget as holistic.
“The Budget is good for the people. I have nothing to comment because it covers the whole (economic) sector, even rubber tappers, farmers, fishermen, and all the frontliners.”
Sabah is the biggest recipient of the development budget at RM5.1 billion, which is RM100 million less than it received this year. – The Vibes, November 26, 2020
