WITH the tabling of Budget 2022 just hours away (at 4pm today to be precise), it makes valid sense to take a quick glimpse into the country’s financial position.
In 2020, the Federal Government’s revenue declined 14.9% to RM225.07 bil in 2020 from RM264.41 bil the previous year, according to the Auditor-General’s (AG) Report 2020.
Operating expenditure shed 14.7% to RM224.6 bil, contracted RM38.74 bil from 2019 while development expenditure amounted to RM51.36 bil, dropped RM2.813 bil or 5.2% from RM54.17 bil in 2019.
2020 also saw expenditure of the COVID-19 Fund amounted to RM38.02 bil.
The Federal Government’s revenue comprised of tax revenue, non-tax revenue, non-revenue receipts and Federal Territories’ revenue.
The report said benefits and returns from investments were main contributors to non-tax revenue for 2020 which amounted to RM46.07 bil or 74.2% of total non-tax revenue.
“Cash in banks as at Dec 31, 2020 amounted to RM23.4 bil comprising fixed deposits of less than three months which amounted to RM14.08 bil and cash balances in banks amounted to RM9.31 bil,” according to AG’s Report 2020 released yesterday (Oct 28).
It was released alongside the Federal Government’s Financial Statement and the 2020 Federal Ministries and Departments Compliance Auditing Report at the Dewan Rakyat.
On another note, the AG Report 2020 revealed that the non-compliance of federal ministries and departments with financial management has led to issues involving irregular payments, loss of public funds and wastage amounting to RM620.07 mil in 2020.
Of the total RM510.49 mil in irregular payments, RM499.19 mil involved payments for maintenance service claims without being verified at the National Security Council level.
“To enable corrective action and improvements to be taken, the Auditor-General has submitted 29 recommendations,” revealed the AG’s Report 2020.
“The four recommendations are for verification of financial statements and 25 recommendations for compliance audits of federal ministries and departments to be considered for implementation by ministries and departments,” it added.” – Oct 29, 2021
