Reveal sum of ‘extra payments’ to service US$ debts, Mustapa told

 

Economic affairs minister Mustapa Mohamed said only 5% of government debt is in US dollars while the rest is in ringgit.

PETALING JAYA: DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng has urged economic affairs minister Mustapa Mohamed to reveal how much in “extra payments” Putrajaya will have to pay for debts in US dollars, in view of the weak ringgit.

While noting that the ringgit’s decline against the US dollar was partially due to aggressive rate hikes by the US, Lim pointed out that the local currency had also depreciated significantly against the rupiah and the Singapore dollar.

He said the declining value of the ringgit would force the government to pay RM30.23 billion to repay the US dollar bonds Goldman Sachs had arranged for 1MDB, or RM8.5 billion more, thanks to the exchange rate.

“In the interest of transparency and public accountability, Mustapa must disclose the extra payment to be borne by the government due to foreign exchange losses from its US denominated debt,” he said in a statement.

Yesterday, Mustapa said the weaker ringgit had little impact on the government’s debt payment as its direct debt is largely denominated in ringgit, with less than 5% in the US dollar.

He also said the liquidity of local banks was healthy while Bank Negara Malaysia’s international reserves amounted to about US$106 billion, which can cover the short-term external debt.

Lim said the 5% government debt in US dollars was not a small amount and Mustapa was “doing a great disservice” to Malaysia by brushing off the matter. - FMT