{
  "id": 5075466,
  "title": "Pandemic delays behind payment backlog, says Rural Development Ministry",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/pandemic-delays-behind-payment-backlog-says-rural-development-ministry",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-09-02T11:20:25.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "New Straits Times",
    "slug": "new-straits-times",
    "url": "https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2026/09/1524421/pandemic-delays-behind-payment-backlog-says-rural-development-ministry"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "KUALA LUMPUR: The Rural and Regional Development Ministry (KKDW) has denied claims by the Finance Ministry (MoF) that it overspent its parliamentary allocation, saying payment backlogs stemmed from delayed commitments made during the Covid-19 pandemic, rather than financial mismanagement.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}