He said that he had never lied or tried to confuse the people in tabling budgets since he took over the helm in 2009.
“It looks like these facts have caused unease among some opposition assemblymen who have responded negatively and are even resorting to outright lies,” he told a press conference on the sidelines of the assembly’s sitting here yesterday.
He was responding to comments by some opposition assemblymen that it was the seventh deficit budget in a row, that the state’s reserves were declining and that there was no increase in revenue.
Zambry said even though the state government tabled a deficit budget, the financial statement each year recorded a surplus.
He said since 2009, the audited financial statements showed surpluses amounting to RM9.55 million for 2009, 2010 (RM30.39 million), 2011 (RM25.72 million), 2012 (RM18.49 million), 2013 (RM13.13 million), 2014 (RM7.73 million), 2015 (RM7.59 million) and 2016 (RM4.42 million).
Zambry said the opposition’s claims were just “hot air” because the financial report for fiscal year 2017 would only be ready at the end of the year.
He also rubbished the claim that there was no increase in revenue saying that the records show revenue increased from RM700 million in 2010 to RM1.011 billion in 2016.
“As for the reserves, the figure including cash as of Nov 21, 2017 stands at RM1.1 billion,” he said, adding that the statistics gave a clear picture on the situation as opposed to the absurd claims by the opposition.