Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin says the Johor Budget 2017 is a surplus budget and not a deficit budget as alleged by an Opposition state assemblyman.

"The Pengkalan Rinting state assemblyman can easily verify whether the budget is a deficit or surplus by studying the Auditor-General's Report by making a comparison. There is a clear difference.

"Refer to the Auditor-General's Report as it an official record, unless the Opposition state assemblyman says the auditor-general has conspired with the state government to manipulate the National Audit Report."

Khaled said this in reply to an allegation by Cheo Yee How (DAP-Pengkalan Rinting) that the Johor Budget 2017 is a deficit budget after extra allocation.

The menteri besar said he was not surprised by Cheo's allegation because the Opposition assemblyman also criticised the Johor Budget 2014 saying it had a deficit of RM129,407.

"However, the Auditor General's Report acknowledged that Johor had a surplus budget of RM359.4 million.

"The Pengkalan Rinting assemblyman alleged the 2015 budget had a deficit of RM200,719 while the Auditor General's Report acknowledged it had a surplus of RM153.8 million," he added.

On Nov 17, Khaled tabled the Johor Budget 2017 of RM1.609 billion for management and development expenditure.

The budget with a surplus of RM1.303 million makes Johor a new economic power in the country.-- Bernama