(Kuching, 20th) Despite facing the challenges brought by global economic uncertainty and fluctuations in the commodity markets, Sarawak's state fiscal revenue for the 2025 fiscal year still reached RM12.553 billion.
Sarawak Deputy Premier and Second Minister for Finance and New Economy, Datuk Amar Douglas, stated that this amount exceeded the previously revised revenue expectation of RM12.076 billion.
He pointed out that, due to the moderate outlook for the oil and gas industry exerting pressure on state fiscal planning, the state government had earlier lowered the revenue target from RM14.201 billion.
"Despite facing these challenges, our economic resilience and fiscal management discipline remain evident."
"Based on actual performance, Sarawak successfully collected RM12.553 billion in tax revenue, surpassing the revised forecast by RM477 million, an increase of 4%."
Douglas, during his departmental summary in the Sarawak assembly, pointed out that state sales tax on oil and gas remains the largest source of fiscal revenue for the state.
He added that since its implementation in January 2019 up to April 2026, the cumulative amount collected from the state sales tax on oil and gas has reached RM24.77 billion.
Talking about state expenditures, he stated that Sarawak’s recurrent expenditures for 2025 will amount to RM14.17 billion, of which RM5.37 billion is for operational expenditure and RM8.8 billion is allocated to the development fund account to finance various state development plans.
He stated that the state government’s development expenditure reached RM9.8 billion, accounting for 88% of the total development budget of RM11.07 billion.