Malaysia's government debt exceeds 240 billion USD

Malaysian Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan. (Photo: thevibes.com)

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The Malaysian government’s direct debt stands at 1.07 trillion RM (242.7 billion USD) and the country is unlikely to ever record a surplus fiscal budget in the future, Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said when addressing the upper house on December 21.

He explained that the high federal debt is due to, among other things, the recent COVID-19 pandemic which forced the government to increase its expenditure.

Besides, people’s financial burdens due to the ensuing lockdowns also meant that the government was not able to introduce new taxes to cushion the impact of its high spending.

This was why the Parliament decided to increase the statutory debt limit to 65% of the gross domestic product recently, he explained.

Ahmad also pointed out that the majority of the government’s loans are from local financial institutions, with only about 3% of the overall debt involving foreign funds.

Malaysia has continued to spend more than its revenue since 1997, forcing its debt to be increased year after year due to expenditure on emoluments and development./.

VNA