PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim insisted on Thursday (March 21) that the unity government had never "withheld" any federal grant to any of the states, including Terengganu, whose allocation has been increased this year.

       He said the development allocation for Terengganu has been increased to RM1.59bil this year compared to RM1.55bil in 2023.

       "The budget given by the federal government under the unity government to Terengganu is more than the previous government," he said when speaking at the Finance Ministry’s assembly here Thursday.

       Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said the government under his leadership had never been cruel towards Terengganu, with the federal government having disbursed the "wang ihsan” (compassionate money) to the state based on the 2023 petroleum revenue amounting to RM786mil.

       "(Besides the compassionate money), the federal grant to Terengganu in 2022 was RM399mil, in 2023 we increased it to RM413.64mil, and in 2024, there will be more... (so) is this cruel," he said.

       According to Anwar, Terengganu has a large number of poor people and because of that, the allocation is channelled directly to the needy in the state without going through the MPs.

       "The development allocation is more than the compassionate payment, but it is channelled directly to the people's projects.

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       "If there is an emergency or something urgent, for example, erosion in Lake Kenyir, we will continue to allocate funds to speed up the project," he said.

       The Prime Minister also reminded the Implementation and Coordination Unit (ICU) of the Prime Minister's Department to ensure that the allocation should be given to all the constituencies, regardless of whether they are under PAS or Bersatu.

       "It's just that we don't give it through the MPs, we give it to the people. We focus on the poor, if they are hardcore poor, it doesn't matter which party they belong to, in which constituency they are - we help, regardless of race, religion, constituency or party," said the Prime Minister. - Bernama