Sunday October 9, 2011

Make one-off payments an annual affair, says Lim

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to make eight “one-off payments” in Budget 2012 an annual affair.

“This is an election Budget. The payments should be given yearly and not once in every five years,” he said.

The eight payments are RM500 for families with household incomes below RM3,000, RM100 for primary and secondary school students, RM200 book vouchers, RM3,000 to ex-Jasa and Kemas employees, RM3,000 to ex-servicemen, their widows and widowers who served during the Emergency, a minimum of RM500 bonus for civil servants, RM500 bonus for pensioners and a windfall for every settler preceding the listing of Felda Global Ventures Holdings.

Lim said the Budget would result in a higher deficit as the Government's revenue collection would drop by more than RM1bil.

“It is impossible for the deficit to be reduced with dropping commodity prices and lower revenue collection,” he said.

He said it was very disappointing that the state received “nothing at all” in the Budget.

On the exemption for those above 60 from paying the outpatient registration fee in all Government hospitals and health clinics, Lim said it was merely a RM1 fee.

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