Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 24): Finance Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah has dismissed an opposition lawmaker's claim that the spending deficit of non-financial public corporations (NFPCs) is the "biggest time bomb to Malaysian public finance".

"They [the NFPCs], they have their huge investments and [at the same time]they have their borrowings… we can't go and put that as a time bomb, they are revenue generating companies which will pay off their debts," said Mohd Irwan.

Replying to a question at a post-Budget 2017 dialogue organised by the Malaysian Economic Association today, Mohd Irwan said Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua was wrong to describe the debts of the NFPCs as a time bomb.

"It's a contingent liability and it's a gradual window, but it's not a time bomb kind of thing as they are big entities with large resources

"For example Tenaga Nasional Bhd and Telekom Bhd, they are making profits. If they [have] borrowings for their projects, [are you] going to say it's a time bomb?" he asked.

Mohd Irwan refuted Pua's statement that the government has hidden the bulk of its excessive spending under the NFPCs "to maintain a semblance of a moderate budget deficit".

"In the first place we won't publish our external debt and contingent liabilities if we are trying to hide [them]," he said.

Mohd Irwan was also asked at the dialogue to state how much 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) had contributed to the country's external debt, which stood at RM848.2 million as at June-2016.

"I am the chairman of 1MDB and I will answer that: Not a single sen of 1MDB's debts [form part] of the external debt," he said.

 

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