Global Energy Crisis : Perak Govt Mulls Budget Realignment

IPOH, April 15 (Bernama) -- The Perak State Government is looking into implementing budget realignment to deal with the impact of the global energy crisis following the conflict in West Asia, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad.

Saarani said that for now, the state government does not plan to hold a special session of the State Legislative Assembly to present a supplementary budget to cushion the impact of the crisis.

"From our experience (during) COVID-19, we did not table a supplementary budget, we only carried out realignment. With the existing budget, we will realign so that projects in our opinion cannot be continued due to the increase in construction costs, and perhaps we will just realign the fund in the form of other assistance, for other needs," he said.

He said this during the oral question and answer session at the State Legislative Assembly sitting here today.

He was responding to a supplementary question from Nga Kor Ming (PH-Kepayang) who wanted to know whether the Perak state government was prepared to present a supplementary budget to help the people affected by the global energy crisis.

Saarani said that so far, apart from the assistance provided by the federal government, the state government will also look into methods of assistance for the people including the cheap sale of food products by the Perak State Agricultural Development Corporation (SADC).

"But we understand that they will be affected because the price of diesel is expensive (rising). Lorries carrying goods may be affected, if the State Government agrees, we can give subsidies to the lorries concerned to enable them to continue moving to various locations.

"At the same time, they will continue to sell the price of goods at the same level even though the price of diesel increases," he said.

-- BERNAMA