Guan Eng’s figures – to be taken with pinch of salt
KTemoc Konsiders
However, Lim has insisted in lumping government guarantees and other liabilities into government debt to raise the debt-to-GDP ratio, and then as a result of the reduction in PPP liabilities, claims that the ratio has fallen to 75.4 percent from 79.3 percent previously.
That reduction, as we saw, is entirely due to a reduction of PPP liabilities, which accounted for 6.8 points in the debt-to-GDP ratio, as arbitrarily defined by Lim in defiance of international convention.
I have examined the issue of debt over one year ago, after Lim had just become finance minister where I disputed his assertion that government debt was over RM1 trillion, and said that it was over RM1 trillion only if you included government guarantees and PPP liabilities.
