KUALA LUMPUR – The Finance Ministry is redrafting the policy and scope of “wang ehsan”, or goodwill payments, to the Kelantan and Terengganu governments.
Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said redrafting the use of the wang ehsan funds aligns with the national agenda to reduce poverty in the two east coast states.
“However, petroleum revenue will be paid directly to the states if oil is discovered and obtained within the states’ territorial waters of three nautical miles measured from the low-water line, as per the Territorial Sea Act 2012 (Act 750),” he said when winding up the debate on the motion of thanks for the royal address by the ministry in the Dewan Negara today.
Ahmad said that the flow of wang ehsan to the Kelantan and Terengganu governments is currently at the discretion of the federal government, seeing that no oil has been obtained based on the terms of Act 750.
The deputy finance minister also revealed that wang ehsan payments in 2022 to Kelantan totalled RM344.60 million, while Terengganu received RM1.69 billion. – Bernama, March 27, 2023
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