National debt worse than in 1997, Nurul Izzah claims

February 02, 2011

Nurul Izzah said the government was masking some of its debt as bonds. file picPETALING JAYA, Feb 2 PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar has claimed that Malaysia is closer to bankruptcy now than it was during the 1997 Asian financial crisis which ravaged economies in the region.She said the increase in government bonds issued by the Najib administration would only worsen national debt, which was greater today that it was back then.Even during the crisis, Malaysia was never in such bad shape, she told Taman Sri Manja residents last night at PKRs first Jelajah Pemimpin 2011 roadshow.The Lembah Pantai MP pointed out that the RM150 billion in bonds issued by the government to make up for what she described as its profligate spending would only burden future generations of Malaysians.We are carrying a lot of debt in the guise of government bonds, she told The Malaysian Insider later.Nurul Izzah added that Barisan Nasional (BN) had clearly failed to learn from the financial crisis as the government was still spending excessively and chalking up debt in an unsustainable way.PKR, in an attempt to focus public attention on bread-and-butter issues, has repeatedly slammed the Najib administration for excessive borrowing even as government debt in 2009 rose to RM362.4 billion, or 53.7 per cent of GDP.Party de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last month characterised the governments issuance of bonds worth RM58.1 billion last year and another RM83 billion planned for this year as irresponsible.Malaysia is en route to bankruptcy at the rate that it is raising debt to fund Umno-BNs addiction to wasteful spending and corruption that is endemic to the crony capitalism structure that it props, he had said.