‘GOVT CAN STILL PAY SALARIES’
PH administration can meet monthly expenditure of RM8b, says Guan Eng
THE Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is able to meet all its monthly financial commitments, including the RM8 billion in salaries and pensions of civil servants, despite being left with only RM450 million by the previous administration, says Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
He said yesterday that it had not been an easy five months since May 9, when PH took over the government.
“The Consolidated Revenue Account has dropped drastically from RM11.86 billion in December last year to RM5.73 billion in January this year, RM5.34 billion in February, RM3.91 billion in March, and only RM450 million in April,” he said.
This was a drop of 96 per cent, or RM11.41 billion, in only four months, he noted.
“Clearly, this excessive spending by the previous Barisan Nasional government amounting to billions of ringgit was carried out in the months preceding the 14th General Election.”
He said Accountant General Datuk Saat Esa had confirmed that only monies in the Consolidated Revenue Account could be spent for government expenditure, and not from the Consolidated Fund.
Saat had confirmed that there was only RM450 million left to spend on April 30, and this was the amount when BN handed power to PH on May 9, Lim said.
“There are those who claim otherwise, citing as proof the funds in the Cash Account that BN left PH with billions of ringgit as of April 30.
“This is unfortunately not true. Not all monies in the Cash Account can be used for government expenditure.
“The Cash Account, together with the Investment Account, form a common pool of cash collected, deposited/invested, and held in three separate accounts, i.e. Consolidated Revenue Account, Consolidated Loan Account and Consolidated Trust Account,” he said.
Lim added that the Cash Account and Investment Account could not be used for government expenditure because they did not belong entirely to the Consolidated Revenue Account, pointing out that only the Consolidated Revenue Account could be used for government expenditure.