Salleh: Stats show Malaysia far from going bankrupt

Salleh Said Keruak says there is too much exaggeration about the country’s bad financial state when the figures tell a different story.

PETALING JAYA: If the country is on a slippery slope into bankruptcy, how come the statistics tell a different story, asked Salleh Said Keruak in his blog post yesterday.

The Sabah State Speaker remarked how Mahathir Mohamad’s main grouse with Prime Minister Najib Razak was that Malaysia was in debt. Salleh however pointed out that a comparison between Malaysia and other countries showed that the situation in Malaysia was not as bad as it was made out to be by certain quarters.

“This is the trouble when we generalise without offering statistics and details.

“There is just too much exaggeration, which is meant to make the Prime Minister look bad, but when we look at the details it is not as what they say,” Salleh pointed out.

He also furnished statistics of seven other countries and compared their debt with Malaysia’s and said, “From these statistics it does not give an impression that Malaysia is going bankrupt, like what the opposition is saying, or that Malaysia is worse off than many other countries.”

Below is the list Salleh posted, leaving the reader to judge for themselves where Malaysia stood against her peers.

US: Debts USD17,607 billion, 73.6% of GDP, USD55,360 per capita

Japan: Debts USD9,872 billion, 214.3% of GDP, USD77,577 per capita

China: Debts USD3,894 billion, 31.7% of GDP, USD2,885 per capita

Germany: Debts USD2,592 billion, 81.7% of GDP, USD31,945 per capita

France: Debts USD2,105 billion, 89.9% of GDP, USD31,915 per capita

UK: Debts USD2,064 billion, 88.7% of GDP, USD32,553 per capita

Singapore: Debts USD370 billion, 111.4% of GDP, USD67,843 per capita

Malaysia: Debts USD167.2 billion, 54.6% of GDP, USD3,379 per capita