Felda: Govt committed to complete recovery plan implementation, says Finance Ministry

KUALA LUMPUR: The Unity Government is committed to ensuring the implementation of the Felda recovery plan, which includes the settlement of settlers’ debts as previously announced, is completed.

Accordingly, the Finance Ministry said the government has approved a government guarantee of up to RM9.9bil for the agency to issue sukuk.

"From this year, the government has provided an allocation of up to RM1bil per annum to enable the repayment of Felda sukuk which, among other things, funds the write-off of settlers' debts,” the ministry said in a statement on Sunday (July 9).

On June 28, the government announced an agreement involving a government guarantee to restructure the agency's loan via the issuance of sukuk and revolving credit as part of efforts to restore Felda's financial position.

The major part of the restructuring of Felda's loans is to reduce the principal of the debt to financial institutions by RM7.9bil.

It would also enable Felda to cancel 80 per cent of the RM8.3bil settlers' debt.

At the ‘Temu Anwar’ (Meet Anwar) programme in Kedah yesterday, Anwar also explained that there was indeed an agreement by the previous government to dispose of the debt involved, but it was not implemented.

"Budget 2021 and Budget 2022, tabled by Perikatan Nasional, have no provision to settle and dispose of Felda settlers’ debt. I stand by this record.

"Only in Budget Madani 2023 did I start to set aside over RM990mil, as an early allocation to dispose of Felda settlers’ debt, amounting to RM8.3bil,” he said.

Meanwhile, Felda's new chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek admitted that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had already announced during his tenure as the prime minister that he would pay RM1bil a year for 10 years from 2022, but this was not implemented.

"It was only promised, not implemented, as there was no formal document with Felda to help settle its debt,” Ahmad Shabery said on Facebook yesterday.

Instead, it was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Unity Government that followed through with the arrangement, he said. - Bernama