The new government had borrowed up to RM60 billion of new debt since they took over

Wee Ka Siong

I asked Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng to elaborate on the issuance of government bonds and the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio.

According to his reply, the total debt securities issued by the government to support government spending is determined by the estimated development expenditure and the ceiling indicated in the 11th Malaysia Plan.

His answers in the written reply show that:

1. Official debt remains at RM686 billion. His RM1 trillion figure includes lease payments up to the year 2045! While you are at it, why not take into account all lease payments and rental agreements up to the year 2100 instead? That will definitely yield an even higher “debt” figure.

2. The government has issued RM87.5 billion in new debt from January to September. According to BNM reports, the total outstanding debt as at end March 2018 was RM705 billion, or an increase of RM19 billion since the total outstanding official debt of RM686 billion as at the end of 2017. This means that the new government had borrowed up to RM60 billion of new debt since they took over.

3. His reply acknowledges that the debt level of the previous BN government over the past 10 years is well within official limits and that the debt-to-GDP ratio only increased from 49.6% in 2010 to 50.8% in 2017. Even this increase was attributed by him as “counter-cyclical measures”, including RM67 billion worth of stimulus packages. This means the BN government did the right thing to borrow and spend more to save the country from recession.

Despite all their misleading propaganda and outright lies outside the Parliament to bad-mouth the previous government, they are forced to be truthful in the Parliament. I hope all Malaysians will now realise the truth.