Sabah Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal today tabled a surplus budget for Sabah in 2019 totalling RM4.16 billion compared to RM4.104 billion last year.

While tabling the first budget of the new government led by Parti Warisan Sabah at Sabah State Legislative Assembly, Shafie who is also the state finance minister said the estimated revenue collection for Sabah next year is RM4.27 billion.

Shafie said the budget themed "Driving people-centric growth” was to implement various agendas and development programmes for the various strata of people to enjoy economic benefits including infrastructure and public utilities as well as providing employment and business opportunities, thus creating the multiplier effect to the economy of Sabah.

"This means the government has formulated the surplus budget of RM105.32 million to maintain the financial stability of the state.

The surplus involving an increase of RM40.43 million or 62.31 percent compared to 2018 and the surplus was the highest in five years,” he said when tabling of the state's budget in Kota Kinabalu today.

According to Shafie, from the overall budget 2019, a sum of RM742.14 million was allocated for emolument, repeated expenditure (RM1,371.94 million) and special expenditure (RM2,045.60 million).

He said the emolument expenditure for Sabah in 2019 fell RM21.53 million compared to the estimate of RM763.67 million for 2018 and the main reason for the drop was due to the retirement of civil servants while new officers and employees involved lower salaries.

He said the expenditure saw an increase of RM71.09 million to meet an additional operating cost for the creation of a new ministry, the Ministry of Law and Native Affairs and the setting up of the new district of Kalabakan.

The state's development expenditure next year is RM934.68 million with RM695.39 million from state government allocation and RM239.28 million from federal government allocation, he added.

In terms of revenue, petroleum royalty is expected to be the main contributor encompassing 37.5 percent or RM1,600 million for 2019, said Shafie.

He said crude palm oil (CPO) sales tax is the second highest revenue contributor to Sabah.

According to Shafie, CPO could surpass the price of RM2,400 per tonne and therefore the government is expecting a revenue of RM900 million from this source.

— Bernama