KUALA LUMPUR, April 4 — The government, through the National Finance Council (NFC), has agreed to increase the grants and financial support for each state this year, with a total allocation of RM8.9 billion.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said this was decided during the NFC meeting he chaired today.
The meeting was also attended by all menteris besar and chief ministers.
Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the Federal government is committed to collaborating with all state governments to advance comprehensive national development.
“Based on the principles of humanity and ‘rahmatan lil alamin’, which form the Madani Economy framework, enhancing grants to state governments can directly benefit all Malaysians regardless of ethnicity, religion or geography,” he said in a statement today,
Anwar said that the increase in grants involves all states and will be provided simultaneously.
“As such, I hope that the state governments can fully utilise this grant to ensure the welfare of the people and promote the development of the state more sustainably,” said the prime minister.
According to the Finance Ministry, the allocation for 2024 was an increase compared to RM8.3 billion last year and RM8.1 billion in 2022.
The ministry said that the allocation includes state road maintenance grants of RM5.4 billion, grants based on the Economic, Infrastructure and Welfare Development-Based Grants (Tahap) of RM400 million, and ecological fiscal transfer grants of RM200 million .
The Finance Ministry said the additional annual special grants to Sarawak and Sabah were significantly increased to RM300 million each, compared to RM16 million for Sarawak and RM129.7 million for Sabah last year.
State libraries and museums grants were also raised by 10 per cent this year, it said.
“As for development expenditure, as much as RM39.4 billion is provided for this year to carry out state development projects, compared to RM36.7 billion in 2023 and RM28.8 billion in 2022.
“The state government’s application concerning readiness to address any emergency or natural disaster such as floods and landslides which may cause damage to roads and bridges was also approved,” said the ministry.
In this regard, the ministry said the NFC approved the purchase of the temporary Bailey Bridges using the one-off state road maintenance grant for this year and increased the limit to fund expenses related to state road maintenance by 10 per cent or RM10 million, whichever is lower.
It added that the Madani government remains committed to maintaining a good relationship between the Federal and state governments for the benefit of all Malaysians.
— Bernama
