Malaysian government's debt at RM362 billions as at Dec 31, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — The government’s overall debt as at Dec 31 last year was RM362.4 billion or 53.7 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also Finance Minister, said a major portion of the debt was domestic debts amounting to RM348.6 billion or 96.2 per cent while the remaining RM13.9 billion (3.8 per cent) was external debts.
“The small amount of external debt is in line with the government’s current policy which prioritises domestic borrowings to finance the country’s development projects as the cost is cheaper and there is less exposure to foreign exchange risk,” he said in a written reply to a question from Liew Chin Tong (DAP-Bikut Bendera) at the Dewan Rakyat sitting here today.
Liew had asked on the direct financial obligations of the government in the form of financial guarantee for debt instruments.
Najib said the debt instruments were subscribed by financial institutions, insurance companies and social security institutions.
On the borrowings for projects, he said the financiers were multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank while the bilateral institutions included Japan For International Cooperation (JBIC).
He said the interest rates varied and depended on the tenure of the loan and the prevailing market conditions when the bonds were issued.
Najib said the government’s contingent liabilities meanwhile were in the form of guarantees for the borrowings of statutory bodies and government companies.
As of Dec 31, 2008, the contingent liabilities of the government stood at RM69.2 billion comprising domestic borrowings of RM59.3 billion (86 per cent) and external borrowings of RM9.9 billion (14 per cent),” he said.
He said the guarantees involved two statutory bodies and 16 government-linked companies. — Bernama
Taken from The Malaysian Insider.
Malaysian Bar Council 
1樓
1樓搶頭香
But what does all that mean?
Was it wrong to incur such debt? What
impact would they have on the economy.
Will these debt affect the future
economy of the country. Could we make
do without those debt? IS it wise to
have smaller foreign debt in comparison
to the domestic debt? How are these
data compared to situation in other
countries like Indonesia, USA, India
etc?
Please help us udnerstand.
2樓
2樓頸推
High debts means each and every one citizen has to
burden the national borrowings and facing greater
insolvency of our treasury system. No doubts it was
allocated for project developments but many items
was indicated of abuse public funds, non-
transparency of tender and excessive costs. Further
more lack of efficientcy and mal-practices on many
projects incurr unrelevant expenses. A good
government has to take measures to balance our
resources to ensure our citizens growth and
stability.
A Parent
3樓
3樓坐沙發
it may means current & future generation will have to bear the
burnt of this mess left behind by this incompetent govt of the day.
tats why they have come up with GST , credit card levy ,
recently trying to table an amendment to traffic summons bill
amt to raise from RM300 to RM1K , sooner or later will raise
toll rates , will withdraw the list of price controlled items
like flour , cooking oil , rice , etc etc.....
if external debt is higher than internal debt , it may have a
impact on ringgit's value as well ,