SHAH ALAM, 25 Jan: The real national debt has been projected to increase from RM529.2 billion in September last year to the current total debt which has surpassed 55 percent of the debt ceiling level allowed from the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Vice President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR, Nurul Izzah Anwar, said that this estimate is based on the actions of the Federal Government in continuing to finance mega projects by their cronies’ companies, including the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRT) project.
“This does not include invisible debts, which we do not know the total. We only know that the national debt, including contingent debt, has reached 69 percent and there is huge possibility that it has reached 70 percent of the GDP.
“The MRT project alone has reached RM60 billion, which is mostly borne by the government even though it was initially said to be funded by the private sector,” said Nurul Izzah when met by Selangor Kini during the Respect Yourself Programme organised by the Selangor Women’s Affairs Executive Councillor.
The government’s situation, which is being portrayed as being desperate, has been confirmed by the actions of the government of late – as they are actively cutting subsidies for the people like increasing the price of petrol and electricity tariffs.
Earlier, in a interview with Selangor Kini, the PKR Strategy Director, Rafizi Ramli, said that the Federal government is expected to take drastic measures if the national debt grows over 55 percent of the GDP.
This move is to fulfil the requirements if the government decides to take a new loan from the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF), or even other international financial companies.
Some common condition imposed on countries facing debt, like experienced by Greece, Spain, Iceland, Russia and Argentina, if to reduce the number of civil servants and cut the salaries of civil servants still working.
Apart from that, these countries also decided whether to introduce new taxes or increase existing taxes very highly for the purpose of raising funds to repay debt and regenerate national funds