SEREMBAN, Nov 26 — The Negri Sembilan government today tabled the state’s Budget 2022 which is a deficit budget of RM88 million.

On the budget themed "Empowering the Rakyat’s Economy”, Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun said the strong reserve position of RM899 million enabled the state government to allocate RM520 million, which exceeded the expected revenue of RM432 million and included various financial assistance, cash grants and non-financial incentives as well as support aids.

"Negri Sembilan Budget 2022, which is drafted in a comprehensive and inclusive manner, prioritises the post-Covid-19 economic recovery agenda with the entire focus given to initiatives that can boost the state’s economy.

"It will be done through two resolutions, namely to reduce the people’s financial burden and increase the family’s income generation ability,” he said when presenting Negri Sembilan Budget 2022 at the second sitting (Budget) of the fourth term of the 14th State Assembly (DUN) here today.

He said that through the budget, the state government had also allocated development expenditure of RM130 million which would be used to implement three strategies through 52 initiatives focusing on eight areas including the people’s economy, education and welfare.

Aminuddin, who is also the Sikamat state assemblyman, said a total of RM64.09 million was allocated to implement 40 existing initiatives and 12 new initiatives would be introduced.

On the performance of the state’s Budget 2021 with a projected revenue of RM448 million, he said the revenue collection performance obtained by the state until Nov 15 was RM334.27 million or 74.6 per cent.

"The movement control order implemented previously caused almost all economic sectors to be disrupted and affected, including property development, construction and tourism, which caused the decline in non-tax revenue such as premium and royalty payments,” he said.

However, Aminuddin was optimistic that Negri Sembilan would be able to collect at least 90 per cent of the budgeted revenue for 2021 through various efforts and strategies taken by all revenue collection offices to narrow the gap.

In the meantime, he said the state government through the State Economic Planning Unit was developing the Negri Sembilan Development Plan (RPNS) 2021-2025 which is a medium-term plan for the state’s economic development.

Clearly, the focus for this plan is in the areas of the state macroeconomics and fiscal, entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises, human capital, utilisation of natural resources and focus on high value sectors. — Bernama