Good financials: Chow (centre) and state financial officer Datuk Zabidah Safar holding the Penang 2025 Budget booklets in George Town. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Penang’s Budget 2025 is projecting a revenue of RM906.6mil and an expenditure of RM940.2mil, says Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
He said the deficit of RM33.6mil was the lowest since 2011.
The budget, he said, took into account the balance of the State Consolidated Revenue Account which is projected to be around RM50mil next year, a significant drop from RM330.03mil at the end of last year.
Chow said the state would focus on increasing its revenue to RM906.6mil next year based on tax (RM223.6mil), non-tax (RM570.4mil) and non-revenue receipts (RM112.5mil).
From 2019 to 2023, he said the state generated RM601.81mil in revenue per year on average.
“If the trend of revenue collection remains the same, the state is aware of the risk of running out of the Consolidated Revenue Account balance by the end of next year.
“Therefore, the revenue estimated for 2025 will be an increase of RM373.5mil, or more than 70%, compared to the state revenue of RM533.1mil estimated for 2024,” he said.
Chow said the projected expenditure of RM940.2mil in Budget 2025 would see a reduction of RM106.78mil compared to Budget 2024 (RM1.047bil).
“This reduction of 10.19% is seen as realistic, having taken into account the actual expenditure in 2023 was RM951.76mil,” he said.
“For next year, the total estimated operating expenditure covers matters such as emoluments (RM207.5mil), services and supplies (RM193.9mil), assets (RM4.6mil), grants and fixed charges (RM532.7mil) and others (RM1.4mil),” he said at the state assembly yesterday.
Earlier, Chow said Penang contributed 7.4% to the nation’s GDP, maintaining its position as the fifth top contributing state to Malaysia’s economy.
“In terms of gross domestic product per capita performance, Penang recorded an increase of RM2,797, from RM69,789 to RM72,586, far exceeding the national level of RM54,612,” he said.
As a mark of appreciation to the 4,022 civil servants in the state, Chow announced a Special Financial Assistance amounting to half a month’s salary or a minimum of RM1,000 to them.
The financial aid, which would involve about RM6.88mil, would be paid out next month.
Last year, Penang projected a RM514.53mil deficit in its Budget 2024.
This marks its 13th consecutive budget deficit since 2011.
