IF IT TAKES 20 TO 30 YEARS TO SETTLE NAJIB’S 1MDB DEBTS – THEN MALAYSIANS SHOULD DEMAND HE SPEND THE SAME NUMBER OF YEARS IN JAIL WHILE THEY STRUGGLE TO CLEAR HIS MASSIVE ECONOMIC PLUNDER

IT will take between 20 and 30 years to settle 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s RM44 billion debt, which is draining public coffers and taking money away from much-needed programmes, said Lim Guan Eng.The finance minister said the sum is part of the country’s total debt of RM1.087 trillion accumulated over decades of mismanagement under Barisan Nasional rule.

The amount could have paid for nine years of the government’s Cost of Living Aid, benefiting 4.1 million households, with RM1 billion left over.

Alternatively, the government could have settled RM39 billion in National Higher Education Fund Corporation loans, wiping out university students’ debts.

Or, it could have paid for 184,000 affordable homes costing RM250,000 each.

The RM44 billion is the balance of 1MDB’s “total bill” of RM51 billion, said Lim, with the government having paid RM7 billion to date.

Of the RM51 billion, interest payments alone total some RM20 billion, while the principal is about RM31 billion.

Lim said he is “sick of 1MDB” after spending close to a year organising payments to settle the debt racked up by the Najib Razak administration.

The scandal, which launched graft investigations in six countries, was one of the main reasons Pakatan Harapan won federal power in last year’s May 9 general election. The coalition has promised to prosecute all those responsible and repair the damage caused to the country’s finances.

“I’m sick and tired of 1MDB,” said Lim, talking about his first year in office as minister and the government’s struggles finding ways to pay off the massive debt.

The government has paid only RM7 billion of 1MDB’s ‘total bill’ of RM51 billion. – The Malaysian Insight file pic, May 5, 2019.

‘That one Malaysian’

The previous administration attempted to hide the fact that public funds were being used to pay off the 1MDB debt, which the government had guaranteed, said Lim.

“They (BN) were very smart. They played on definition (in accounting). Only direct (government) debt was recorded. What was guaranteed has now crystallised as the borrower cannot pay, and they don’t admit this.”

Along with the 1MDB debt, other government-guaranteed borrowings that Putrajaya now has to pay have driven Malaysia’s debt load to RM1.087 trillion, or 80.3% of the country’s gross domestic product.

Lim said the PH government’s payments thus far have brought down the total to RM1.07 trillion.

“From 80.3% of GDP, we’ve managed to bring it down to 74.8%. The 5.5% drop is due to the fact that our GDP is expanding, so it helps bring our debt-to-GDP ratio down.”

In three years, the government hopes to reduce the figure to 65% of GDP, or below RM1 trillion.

“It is not easy to reduce it to RM1 trillion, but we’ll try. Either below 65% (of GDP), or below RM1 trillion,” said Lim.

He said all the effort put into finding new sources of funds to repay the national debt has taken him away from an important aim: creating jobs for graduates.

“One thing that I wanted to do, but just don’t have the means to carry out, was to create more jobs, especially for graduates, and to check and reduce cost-of-living pressures.

“We hope that we can do this in the next budget… create jobs, especially for unemployed grads. This is something the previous government never focused on. They looked at big projects, not at ensuring jobs for ordinary Malaysians.

“I’m sick and tired of 1MDB, and I want to think of ‘that one Malaysian’, not 1MDB, (to ensure) ‘that one Malaysian’ has a job, has higher purchasing power.” – May 5, 2019.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT