MARANG: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has brought embarrassment to himself for wrongly claiming that the country is heading towards bankruptcy.
Finance Ministry strategic communications director Datuk Lokman Noor Adam said the country was saddled with a higher amount of debts when Dr Mahathir was prime minister.
He said it was slanderous for Dr Mahathir to make such a claim as the economic report showed that Malaysia was among three countries that achieved rapid growth for the third quarter of 2017 with 6.2 per cent, slight behind the Philippines (6.9 per cent) and China (6.7 per cent).
He said the country also recorded a low 50.9 per cent debt rate against the gross domestic product (GDP) in June last year, as compared with the 103 per cent when Dr Mahathir was prime minister.
“In terms of liability or debts, the country’s debts reached 103 per cent from its GDP in 1986 during the era of Dr Mahathir.
“Even then we were not bankrupt. How can he say that Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration, that records a lower 50.9 per cent debt, is heading towards bankruptcy,” he said during a panel discussion at the Current Affairs Information Council and Anti-Defamatory Dialogue organised by the Kelab Sahabat Najib 87 (N87), last night.
Lokman said the national debt was more organised under Najib’s administration which observed that the national debt ceiling discipline did not breach 55 per cent of GDP.
He said international rating agencies Flitch Rating, Standard & Poor’s and Moody's Investors Service also rated Malaysia’s economy as stable and in category A-.
“The national debt rate is healthy. From 54.5 per cent of GDP in 2015, we succeeded in lowering it to 52.7 per cent in 2016 and 50.9 per cent by June last year.
“Now, the country’s economy is in good stead. This is not only Bank Negara’s stand but also by the international rating agencies.
“Firstly, when Dr Mahathir said Malaysia was heading towards bankruptcy, what basis did he use?
“If he said in terms of national revenue, we can see in the increase in income.
“Although the world faced an economic downturn in 2016, our economic growth was 4.2 per cent.
“In the first quarter of 2017 it rose to 5.6 per cent, second quarter to 5.8 per cent and third quarter to 6.2 per cent,” he said.
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