Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali is doing just fine thus far.
Pic courtesy of Menteri Besar's Office, November 24, 2014
On November 24, 2014, the Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor government tabled the largest budget for 2015 since they took over the state in 2008 – a massive RM2.42 billion, of which 46.81% or RM1.13 billion has been earmarked for development.
The state also projected that the 2015 revenue will increase 6.49% to RM1.97 billion from the RM1.85 billion forecast for 2014. This marks the state’s first deficit budget under PR.
But there is no need for alarm. Azmin insists he knows what he is doing.
His government will not use reserves to balance the deficit budget.
Besides, the budget was drafted according to the actual expenditure of the state to avoid having to table a Supplementary Supply Bill next year to expand the allocation.
As Azmin said: “I chose to face it (our spending) honestly”.
For those who didn’t know, Selangor under Khalid Ibrahim had actually been having deficit budgets too because Supplementary Supply Bills have been tabled yearly for additional funds since 2008.
Therefore, this is a refreshing departure from past practices.
And best of all, the budget is indeed focused on “development”. For Selangor, we can never have enough of development. Proper measured development, that is.
On Friday afternoon, I was part of a 3-person judging team for SUBS colleague Derek Ong’s Marketing Research Poster Exhibition. The DMK2033/MKT2074 Marketing Research students were in ten teams and it is always nice to see students showcasing their research initiatives.