SPIRAL OF DEVELOPMENT ALLOCATIONS

BUDGET.....Musa Aman showing the 2013 State Budget

By :  REBECCA CHONG

THE STATE Government has provided, across the board, an upswing of development allocations for the year 2013 as compared to the 2012 Budget. The expenditure for the year 2013 is the biggest in the State’s budget financial history totaling RM4.088 billion, as against RM4.048 billion in the 2012 Budget.

Emoluments estimates proposed for the year 2013 is RM663.17 million, an increase of RM39.51 million or 6.34 percent, compared to RM623.66 million in 2012. The increase is attributed to the adjustments of State’s civil servants salary implemented in 2012.

A total of RM1,087.93 million is proposed for recurrent expenditures for 2013. This represents a reduction by RM32.92 million or 2.94 percent as compared to RM1,120.85 million for year 2012. Musa said the reduction is due to prudent spending and efficient expenditure management.

For special expenditures, a total of RM2,337.38 million is proposed in 2013, an  increase of RM33.61 million or 1.46 percent compared to RM2,303.77 million for 2012.  The increase among others is due to increase in contribution to development fund from RM500 million in 2012 to RM800 million in 2013. This is the largest contribution ever made by the State Government.

For the year 2013, a total of RM2.42 billion is provided for development expenditures.  These estimates involved State Fund amounting to RM 1 billion, and RM1.42 billion contribution from the Federal Government. This is a significant increase on the State Budget of 2012 that voted for  a sum of RM881.87 million for development expenditure.

"While sustaining the State development momentum, we must at the same time also strive to intensify it," Musa said to explain the increase during the unveiling of the 2013 State Budget. Musa also expressed his gratitude to the Federal Government for its contribution.

It is clear from the size of the development allocations that the 2013 Budget is intended to continue to provide a large allocation for improvement of basic infrastructures and public utilities that will support the agriculture, tourism and manufacturing programmes, as well as the rural development programmes that focuses on the eradication of poverty, human capital development and general welfare programmes.

There are obvious improvements in the new Budget as  compared to the previous one. Some increases are significant. For instance, an allocation of RM1.412 billion is provided for the infrastructure and public amenities development next year, which is an increase from the allocated sum of RM1.285 billion this year.

Allocation for  other sectors have also been increased. Agriculture sector development allocation has been increased from RM335.95 million this year to RM375.58 million next year; tourism sector development from RM158.84 million this year to RM159.13 million next year. The allocation to uplift the standard of living of the rural households and eradication of hardcore poverty has likewise spiked  from RM168.95 million to RM209.62 million.

The Government has also increased funding for  human capital development. Next year's allocation has been increased from RM204 million  to RM261.27 million . A sum of RM73.49 million will be allocated for ICT development in 2013, compred to the allocation of RM71.71 million this year. (Insight Sabah)