PRIME Minister Anwar Ibrahim has announced increased allocations for Sabah and Sarawak under Budget 2024.

Anwar, who is also finance minister, said the federal allocation for development in Sarawak was increased to RM5.8 billion compared with RM5.6 billion previously.

For development in Sabah, it was increased to RM6.6 billion compared with RM6.5 billion previously.

Anwar said Putrajaya would raise special interim provisions for both states.

“The government will increase the rates of special interim provisions for Sarawak and Sabah to RM300 million compared with RM16 million for Sarawak and RM125.6 million for Sabah previously.

“The last time reviews of the special provisions for Sarawak and Sabah were conducted was in 1969 and 2022, respectively,” he said.

He also announced the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (Amendment) Bill 2023 was passed in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday to provide for the Sabah chief minister and Sarawak premier to sit on the board.

This was detailed in the Inter-Governmental Committee Report 1963.

Anwar said the federal and Sabah governments have reached an agreement on the transfer of regulatory control of electricity supply, which will take effect on January 3. – October 13, 2023.