Malaysia can become similar to Sri Lanka if we dont manage our debts - Johari
19 Dec 2022 05:59pm
Johari Abdul Ghani. - Photo by Bernama.
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growing national debt properly.
Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani (BN-TItiwangsa) said the national debt this year reached RM1.12 trillion in four years compared to RM686 billion in 2017.
“I just want to emphasise one very important matter (and) if this matter is not managed properly, it will affect the country in the next five or 10 years.
“Our country has borrowed over RM1 trillion (while) in 2017, we only owed RM686 billion however, within four years our debts have increased by almost RM400 billion to reach RM 1.2 trillion.
“What worries me is in 2017 we only paid the interest of RM27.9 billion however, in 2022 the payment reached RM43 billion.
“(So) if we don’t manage this matter properly and efficiently, the fate that will befall Malaysia will be no different from what we see in Sri Lanka,” he said while debating the vote of confidence motion for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the Dewan Rakyat on Monday.
The former finance deputy minister said Malaysia was far behind in attracting foreign investment compared to neighbouring countries especially Indonesia.
He said this situation was driven by the country’s political instability in the recent years.
“What I want to emphasise is that even though our index is globally competitive however, the total amount of investment that Indonesia takes in the span of four years was much better and higher than Malaysia.
“This situation happened because we could not provide political stability in the eyes of investors coming to our country,” he said.
