Photo shows the State Legislative Assembly building taken from the air. – Bernama file photo
KUCHING: Lim Guan Eng’s statement on Friday claiming that the state will go bankrupt in three year’s time if it continues to be ruled by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) has been described to be misleading and contained political motive.
The Sarawak Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning said it was incumbent upon Lim, as the federal Finance Minister, to be careful and responsible as any statement from him would be taken as signal to the health of Malaysian economy.
“The Sarawak Government under Gabungan Parti Sarawak is a responsible government that has always been practicing and upholding the principle of a disciplined and responsible financial management.
“We will always ensure that the state government will have the capacity and ability to finance any plan or commitment undertaken for the benefit of the people of Sarawak,” it said in a statement today.
The ministry stressed that the state government would continue to strengthen its financial management under good government practices, strict financial discipline and prudence at all times.
“The Auditor-General of Malaysia had accorded Sarawak with an unqualified report for the past 17th consecutive years. Besides that, the international rating agencies namely Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s had also re-affirmed the State’s commendable investment credit rating at A3 and A-, respectively.
“These achievements are clear testimony of the State’s continuous sound financial management in exercising financial prudence and financial discipline at all levels.”
It also pointed out that the state government had recorded budget surpluses for many years as a result of higher revenue than expenditure.
It cited the latest record which saw last year’s budget recording a revenue of RM7.2 billion versus and a surplus of RM110.1 million.
“These continuous budget surpluses has enabled the State to build up its reserves.”
On a related note, the ministry said that negotiation on restoring the rights and status of Sabah and Sarawak under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) was still ongoing.
However it wondered whether the statement made by Lim reflected the stand of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal government for their unwillingness to restore the equal status.