Uggah also said that during the initial operating period, DBOS has been granted by the federal Ministry of Finance, a tax exemption which requires profit earned by the bank to be reinvested into funding of infrastructure projects in the state.
KUCHING (May 27): The total placements of deposits in the Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS) were RM7.16 billion as of March 31, says Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.
He also said the bank’s total approved credit facilities were RM9.70 billion.
“The loans disbursed were mainly utilised for state public infrastructure projects such as water supply grid, rural electrification schemes, roads and bridges,” he said in his winding-up speech yesterday.
Uggah, who is Second Finance and New Economy Minister, also said that during the initial operating period, DBOS has been granted by the federal Ministry of Finance, a tax exemption which requires profit earned by the bank to be reinvested into funding of infrastructure projects in the state.
He was responding to issues raised by Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh (PSB-Bawang Assan) on matters pertaining to DBOS.
The PSB president had in his debate on Monday asked for further updates concerning the state-owned bank including how much of Sarawak’s reserves had been deposited with DBOS.
Uggah also responded to Wong’s previous query on whether Petronas had paid the RM3.876 billion state sales tax (SST) on oil and gas as budgeted in the 2022 estimates.
“I wish to inform that the RM3.876 billion budgeted for SST in 2022 comprised sales tax from various taxable items and not just from oil and gas,” he said.
Oil and gas contributed to RM3.162 billion; crude palm oil and crude palm kernel oil (RM600 million); lottery (RM60 million); tyre (RM5 million); and aluminum (RM49 million).
He said for the year 2021, a sum of RM2.458 billion was received from SST on oil and gas whereas, for the first quarter of this year, RM813 million has been collected.
“The SST on oil and gas has become the major contributor to the overall state revenue.
“Since its imposition on Jan 1, 2019, the total revenue collected from this source amounted to RM8.52 billion,” said Uggah.