Najib mocks successors over RM1 trillion debt

 

Najib Razak says the eonomy grew rapidly and government debt fell for eight straight years before Pakatan Harapan took over power.

PETALING JAYA: Former prime minister Najib Razak claims the government’s direct national debt has now reached RM1 trillion, a far cry from when his administration headed the country.

In a Facebook post, the Pekan MP said the current figure of RM1,002.9 billion was a 46% increase from the RM686.8 billion recorded in 2017 before the fall of Barisan Nasional in the 14th general election.

“Congratulations Pakatan Harapan (PH), congratulations Guan Eng, congratulations Abahkau and congratulations Atok,” he jabbed.

He said that under him, the economy grew rapidly and government debt fell for eight straight years before rising again under PH.

“GST was abolished, Petronas looted and the country’s assets that gave good returns were also sold.

“As a result, the rate of increase in government debt was very fast compared to when I was PM – the period during which PH kept accusing the country of bankruptcy.”

Najib said this direct debt figure was the more conventional way of calculating the deficit, not the “fairy tale” method used by PH to allege that it had hit RM1 trillion under him.

PH included government commitments as part of direct debt – which is not done conventionally – which it said equated to direct debt reaching RM1 trillion under Najib.

When Perikatan Nasional took over, the government did the opposite and excluded foreign, short-term and bank borrowings in its debt calculations, also against convention. - FMT