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KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s national debt at the end of last year inched closer to the RM1 trillion mark, almost breaching the 65% debt ceiling of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), said Deputy Finance Minister I Datuk Mohd Shahar Abdullah.
“The federal government’s total debt until the end of December 2021 was reported to be at RM978.8 billion, or 63.4% of the country’s GDP.
“Meanwhile, the federal government’s debt ratio involving instruments of Malaysian grant securities, Malaysian government investment issue, and Malaysian Islamic treasury bills recorded a 59.7% from the GDP,” said the Paya Besar MP during oral questioning in the Dewan Rakyat this morning.
He stressed that these debt ratios were still below the 65% maximum debt ratio to GDP as previously approved under the Temporary Measures for Government Financing (Coronavirus Disease 2019) Amendment Act 2021.
In March last year, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz had said in a statement that the national debt figure was RM820.7 billion or 58% of GDP at end-2020. He said it represented the statutory debt under current law and was projected to increase to 58.5% of GDP in 2021.
He had added that total debt including offshore and other borrowings amounted to RM879.6 billion or 62% of GDP at the end of 2020.
Shahar today also spoke on how the country’s economy expanded by a total of 3.1% in 2021, compared to a 5.6% contraction in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As for 2022, he said the government projects local economic expansion of 5.5% to 6.5%.
“This projection is also in line with the latest predictions by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank which projected 5.7% and 5.8% economic expansions respectively,” he said.
For month-on-month performance, Shahar said the local economy experienced a growth of 2.7% in October last year, followed by 5.4% in November, and 2.6% in December.
He said this translated to an economic expansion of 3.6% in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021, compared to a 3.4% contraction recorded in Q4 of 2020.
Additionally, Shahar said the fiscal deficit in 2021 was 6.4%, and that the government aims to achieve a 5.5-6.5% fiscal deficit in 2022.
RM37.3 million to be spent this year on students’ lockers
Separately, Deputy Education Minister Datuk Mah Hang Soon announced that some RM37.3 million is set to be spent for the first phase of the government’s initiative to install student lockers in primary schools nationwide.
He said this phase aims to supply lockers to students in Standards 1 to 3, while the second phase is aimed at Standards 4 to 6 students and is expected to be implemented next year.
When pressed by Teo Nie Ching (Kulai-PH), his predecessor as deputy education minister, on when the lockers are expected to arrive at these schools, Mah said the ministry would first complete its feasibility studies before the lockers can actually be shipped to the schools.
“We are studying the feasibility of installing these lockers in schools to benefit more than 320,000 students.
“However, we are also looking at rearranging the timetables in schools, maybe to limit lessons to three of four subjects per day to ensure the timetable does not burden the students,” he added. – The Vibes, March 21, 2022
