Finance Ministry says Madani govt only spent leftover RM57m on publicity and ads, no new contracts given in 2023 so far

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — The Finance Ministry today affirmed that the Anwar administration has only spent RM56.9 million for communications purposes so far this year.

It said the money was the excess value from communications contracts signed by the past two federal administration since March 2020 under the prime ministership of Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his successor from Barisan Nasional (BN) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

“There was a surplus in the value of communications contracts signed during the past administrations that was not spent in 2022,” the ministry said in a statement.

It added that the bulk of the expenditure was for purposes coordinated under the Prime Minister’s Office.

“For the year 2023, the Madani government has only used RM56.9 million for its communications expenses, which was a part of the surplus communications contracts from the past administration.

“No new communications contracts have been awarded this year by the Madani government,” the ministry added.

For next year, the ministry said the Madani government plans to cut its spending for advertisements, promotions and publicity and has capped it at RM100 million.

The ministry said the self-imposed limit is half of the average spending of the previous federal government.

Last Tuesday, Anwar told Parliament that both the Muhyiddin and Ismail Sabri administrations had spent RM700 million for publicity and advertising contracts between 2020 to 2022.