KUALA LUMPUR, July 25 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has refuted claims that the national monetary, fiscal, and budget policies have not been successful in achieving the government’s promise of debt and fiscal deficit reduction.
He stressed that the government is committed to lowering the debt, which is currently underway.
Anwar said there has been some uproar in the past few weeks, suggesting that the government is not telling the truth and has reneged on its promise.
“We have been attacked on social media, but the information given is false,” he said in a video on X (formerly Twitter) today, adding that some of the claims are unfounded and are merely 'irresponsible political swipes'.
On Monday (July 22), the Prime Minister said the government's target is to reduce annual borrowing to RM86 billion this year, from RM93 billion in 2023 to RM100 billion in 2022.
He noted that the present government had inherited debts topping RM1 trillion, and the figure even reached RM1.5 trillion.
“In 2021 and 2022, external and internal debts amounted to RM100 billion, respectively. When we took over the government in 2023, we were told the situation was untenable with the accumulated ing and rising debt.
“Hence, we reduced it to RM93 billion from RM100 billion. In 2024, the debt was further reduced to RM86 billion,” Anwar said.
Simultaneously, the government could not simply eliminate all debts as this would affect, among others, projects meant to help the people as well as obligations to repay old debts.
“The debt level is high and now stands at 64 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product. Our target is to reduce it in stages to at least 60 per cent,” he said.
The national fiscal deficit was lowered to 5.0 per cent of GDP in 2023 from 5.6 per cent in 2022, and this year, it is projected to be reduced to 4.3 per cent.
“I present these figures, which are being defended as being truthful. The Finance Ministry, along with the Department of Statistics Malaysia, release such data from time to time,” Anwar said.
— Bernama
