Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has announced a deficit budget of RM262 million, an increase of RM48 million from 2012.

Lim said the deficit has taken into account the 2013 estimated income of RM708 million compared to the operation expenditure of RM970 million for next year.

"This deficit will be managed via the state's accumulative savings, which now remains at RM710 million at the end of 2011," he added.

NONE Lim ( right ) also announced a total budget of RM1.13 billion for Penang in 2013, making it the highest amount compared to previous years.

Lim said the exact figure (for operational expenditure) is RM970,561,310, an increase of RM370,965,987 or 61.87 percent compared with RM599.60 million for 2012.

He added that allocation for development stands at RM363,385,531, an increase of RM30,451,881 or 9.15 percent compared with the RM332.93 million allocated for last year.

"This brings the whole amount to RM1,133,946,841. This is an increase of RM381.42 million or 50.68 percent over the 2012 budget," the chief minister added.

NONE After the tabling session, Umno assemblypersons present were quick to dismiss it as “an election budget”.

Acting opposition leader Hilmi Yahya said that Lim had announced “many goodies” when tabling the budget.

“What difference is this when they say the federal government announced an election budget?” he queried at a press conference, accompanied by several Umno reps.

“If they (Pakatan Rakyat) were to win the state (at the coming general election), I am sure the CM will present a budget with less (allocation),” he added.

During his presentation, Lim declared several policies and strategies to enhance the state’s economy, development, investment, industrial, tourism and heritage sectors.

Lim also also proposed ways to increase the quality of public infrastructure and social amenities.

“These are issues that have been carried over from the previous government under BN,” said Hilmi.