KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 9): Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today the government may have to devise new taxes and sell land and other "valuable assets" to pare down its debt.

Dr Mahathir said the government may have to devise new taxes although he did not think the people will welcome new taxes.

"I don't think (new taxes are) something that is welcomed by the people. But we may have to devise new taxes to pay our debts," he said at the Malaysia: A New Dawn Investors' Conference here today.

"Another thing we may do is to sell our assets," he said.

Dr Mahathir said although government asset sales are not necessarily good for the nation, assets such as land could be sold to locals for housing development projects.

On top of that, the government "may have to sell our valuable assets to pay our debt", he said.

Dr Mahathir said a higher rate of economic growth will reduce the country's debt-to-gross domestic product ratio, thus making debts "appear smaller".

He said the government welcomes foreign investments to further grow the nation's economy.