KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has refuted claims that the 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 national debt, which is currently being done.
Anwar said there have been some hue and cry in the past few weeks suggesting that the government was 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 posted on X, adding that some of the claims are unfounded and irresponsible political swipes.
Previously, Anwar announced that the government targets to reduce annual borrowing to RM86 billion this year from RM93 billion in 2023 and RM100 billion in 2022.
He noted that the present government had inherited debts topping RM1 trillion and the figure even reached RM1.5 trillion.
Anwar explained that at the same time, the government could not simply eliminate all debts as this would affect projects that are meant to help the people as well as obligations to repay old debts, among others.
“The debt level is high and now stands at 64% of gross domestic product (GDP). Our target is to reduce it in stages to at least 60%,” he said.
According to Anwar, the national fiscal deficit has been lowered to 5% of GDP in 2023 from 5.6% in 2022 and this year it is projected to be reduced to 4.3%
“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,” he added.
— BERNAMA
