He said the federal government, Sabah and Sarawak were now negotiating to finalise the formula and indicators for use in determining the rate of increase for the grant.

“Agreement in principle has been reached that the federal government would increase the special grant through reviews.

“Once a final decision is reached, I believe the prime minister will announce the rate.

“I’m confident it will exceed 100% in the interests of the people of Sabah and Sarawak,” Bernama reported him as saying after the conferment of accreditation for members of Kor Siswa Siswi Pertahanan Awam at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan.

Armizan said the special grant for Sabah and Sarawak under Article 112D of the Federal Constitution was being coordinated by the finance ministry.

In January, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, after chairing the Malaysia Agreement 1963 Implementation Action Council meeting, said the federal government had agreed to increase the special grant for Sarawak to RM300 million.

Anwar said this amount was only for the initial stage before a specific formula was worked out to determine the rate for the annual grant.