Repay RM2.5 bil debt before demanding share of tourism tax revenue, Guan Eng tells Sarawak

Tourists in Kuching inspecting traditional handicraft at a Gawai bazaar in Kuching. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Sarawak should repay the federal government its RM2.5 billion debt before demanding its share of RM2.7 million in tourism tax revenue, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said today.

He reminded the state government that RM50 million of the debt was overdue.

“Sarawak has a huge reserve, why has it not repaid its debt to the federal government?” he asked.

In a statement issued in Putrajaya today, Lim chided Sarawak Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah for making “defamatory” allegations about unfair financial treatment over the matter.

He said these allegations had angered the people of Sarawak.

Lim said the accounts for the tourism tax revenue for 2018 would be finalised soon, and the 50% share should be distributed to the state governments in the first quarter of this year.

He said Karim should have been responsible and professional enough to not denounce the federal government by alleging that it had not been given its share of the tourism tax revenue although other states like Sabah had received it.

But Lim said that to date Putrajaya has yet to distribute the tourism tax revenue to any state, contrary to such claims.

Lim said that while previous administration had not been in favour of distributing the tourism tax revenue, the Pakatan Harapan government however announced in Budget 2019 that the state governments would receive a 50% share of the proceeds starting this year.

“This reflects the new attitude of the federal government that respects the states,” he said. -FMT