Joseph Ng (PH-Air Itam) said there were state government agencies repaying loans from the state government at significantly reduced rates compared with the original terms.
This reflected poorly on Penang’s financial oversight, he told the state assembly today.
Ng said there was one agency that was supposed to pay the state RM623,000 every year for a loan it took, but claimed it was only paying RM10 annually.
He did not disclose the agency’s name.
He also said there was a “careless” RM33 million loan to a private company that has gone unpaid for over 10 years because of unresolved land disputes.
“The auditor-general has said the (state) government must reduce its revenue arrears to strengthen its financial position,” he said.
“This is not about high development expenditure, it’s about fixing weak financial practices like uncollected taxes and non-performing loans.”
Ng said Penang’s consistent budget deficits were partly because of its poor revenue collection, as flagged in the 2023 Auditor-General’s Report, which highlighted RM99.8 million in uncollected taxes, including RM72 million in unpaid land taxes.
He urged chief minister Chow Kon Yeow to disclose the latest figures on outstanding land taxes and the action being taken to reduce the arrears.
Last week, the state government tabled a RM940.2 million budget for 2025 with a record-low deficit of RM33.6 million projected, a significant drop compared with RM514.5 million this year.
However, Ng said Penang should learn from Selangor to one day table its first surplus budget, pointing out that Selangor recorded back-to-back surpluses of RM117 million in 2022 and RM206 million in 2023. - FMT
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