GEORGE TOWN, Nov 21 — Penang today announced a half-month bonus or a minimum of RM1,200 for civil servants in the state after tabling a deficit Budget for 2023.
Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today tabled a RM989.47 million Budget with a projected deficit of RM467.12 million.
The Budget is RM54.25 million higher than this year’s Budget of RM935.22 million while the projected deficit is RM17.32 million higher than the deficit of RM449.8 million this year.
The state has tabled an increasingly higher Budget over the past few years from RM792.66 million in 2020, with a deficit of RM273.5 million, to RM909.82 million in 2021 with a deficit of RM403.8 million and an RM935.22 million Budget with a deficit of RM449.8 million this year.
This is also the 12th consecutive deficit Budget Penang had tabled since 2011.
Out of the RM989.47 million, a total of RM326.76 million is for development which will be allocated to nine departments.
“The highest development allocation is RM172.04 million under the state secretary and chief minister’s office and this budget included an allocation for Gurney Wharf (RM60 million), sports and recreational spaces development (RM18.9 million), Penang Transport Master Plan RM17.23 million) and development of affordable homes plans (RM8.67 million), among other development projects,” he said.
He said the state also allocated a loan totalling RM20 million to Penang Development Corporation to support a portion of the cost for the GBS By The Sea project.
As for the half-month bonus or a minimum of RM1,200 bonus for civil servants, he said a total of 3,920 civil servants in the state will benefit from this and the total allocation for this is RM6.13 million.
As with previous years, the state will also be giving out a total of RM900,000 in cash aid of between RM200 and RM300 each to Kafa teachers, religious school teachers, tahfiz teachers and private Chinese school teachers and staff.
