FINANCE Minister Lim Guan Eng stood by his claim that Sarawak’s loan from the federal government stood at more than RM2.5 billion as of November 30, and the state owed nearly RM50 million in repayments.

He said in a statement today the federal government’s records showed that as of December 31, the balance of Sarawak’s federal government loan stood at RM2.43 billion and the state is in arrears of RM46.5 million.

Lim said Sarawak’s claim that it was not paid a share of the tourism tax revenue because its was an opposition state, was an attack on Putrajaya.

Yesterday, Sarawak disputed the Putrajaya’s figures, saying the state owed only RM2.38 billion and that there were no arrears on its repayment.

The state government also said Sarawak was one of the states with no arrears in loan repayment.

It also told Lim Sarawak’s federal loans were paid in a timely manner based on a schedule agreed between the state and federal governments.

The spat over the federal loans stemmed from Lim’s reaction to Sarawak’s Tourism, Arts, Culture, Youth and Sports Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah’s query last Friday on why Sarawak had not been paid its share of revenue from the federal tourism tax.

Karim had said Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal and Tourism Minister Christina Liew had told him that Kota Kinabalu had been paid its share of the tax.

Liew has denied the claim.

Lim, in his initial reaction on Sunday, said since Sarawak has a huge financial reserve, “why isn’t it settling its debt with the federal government?”

He said the Sabah government has denied receiving a share of the tax, showing that the Sarawak government is making a false accusation and had malice towards the federal government.

Lim appealed to the Sarawak government “to get the correct facts and figures” so as not to jeopardise the strong working relationship Sarawak had promised to have with Putrajaya.

He reiterated that all states would be paid their share of the tax revenue in the first quarter of this year. – January 9, 2019.