KUALA LUMPUR: The aggregate debt for households in 2023 has amounted to RM1.53 trillion, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Finance Ministry in a parliamentary written reply on Monday (March 18) said of the total, the largest portion of the debt was housing loans which comprised 60.5 per cent of the debt, followed by vehicle loans (13.2 per cent) and personal financing (12.6 per cent).
It added that other loans for other purposes include non-residential property purchases, credit card debt, securities and others.
In aggregate, the total household debt for 2022 was RM1.45 trillion, followed by 2021 (RM1.38 trillion), 2020 (RM1.32 trillion), 2019 (RM1.25 trillion), and 2018 (RM1.19 trillion), said the ministry.
"The ratio of household debt to gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of 2023 slightly increased to 84.2 per cent compared to 2018 (82 per cent)," the ministry said.
The ministry said this in response to Pang Hok Liang (PH-Labis) who enquired the ministry to state the country's aggregate household debt from 2018 to 2023.
Meanwhile, the ministry said the average annual growth of household debt was 5.1 per cent from 2018 to 2023.
"The annual growth in household debt was primarily driven by housing and vehicle loans following various incentives offered by the government, private sectors as well as the sales and service tax (SST) incentives for motor vehicle purchases between 2020 and 2022."