PSC confirms govt debt, liabilities at RM1.09 trillion at 2018 year-end

KUALA LUMPUR: The Special Parliamentary Select Committee on the Budget has confirmed that the government's debt and liabilities stood at RM1.09 trillion as at the end of last year.

Its chairman Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the committee had convened to determine the actual debt and liabilities of the Federal Government that would have an impact on its annual budget.

He said the latest findings of the government’s debt and liabilities were in line with the accrual accounting released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In the report, which was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat, the RM1.09-trillion debt and liabilities consist of RM741bil of Federal Government debt, RM132.7bil of government-guaranteed loans, RM32.2bil of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) principal debt, and RM184.9bil of other liabilities.

Mustapa also revealed that the government had loaned almost RM9bil to 1MDB, which could instead have been used to fund infrastructure and development projects.

The special select committee also recommended that the government’s debt and liabilities be tabled in detail regularly for Parliament to monitor the payback performance and actual debt.

It also recommended the monitoring of debt to ratio of the GDP, government deficit ratio to GDP, and the service payment compared to government revenues.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng had earlier said that the government’s total liabilities of over RM1 trillion included federal government debt, government guarantees, and lease payments for public-private partnership (PPP) projects such as the construction of schools, hostels, roads, police stations and hospitals.