IPOH, Feb 8 — Perak Menteri Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad hope that the Federal Government will not cut a huge part from the RM3 billion allocation requested by the state government in the Budget 2023.

Noting that the Federal Government in the process of revising the budget, Saarani hope that Putrajaya will consider approving some of the allocations related to people’s welfare.

"Previously, I had led a delegation comprising of state financial officer, state secretariat, three state executive councillors and department chief to Putrajaya to meet the Prime Minister on the Federal budget allocation for the state.

"We have listed the several applications which bring up to more than RM3 billion. We’re aware that the budget is being revised, we hope that if the government will not reject all the listed applications,” he told a press conference at the Menteri Besar Office here.

Saarani also said that the Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan will be present here for a dialogue on the budget tomorrow.

"We will listen to his briefing on the budget that has been allocated for the state. We will give the necessary feedback after the briefing.

"We hope what we requested will be in the revised budget book as we need to bounce back from post Covid-19 pandemic.

"We need allocation to repair the damage roads in the highway and also solve the issue of hospital bed shortages in Hospital Raja Permaisuri Bainun. These are among the complaints from the public,” he added.

The Budget 2023 is set to be re-table on February 24.