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Malaysia: Finance minister suggests government ready to raise debt ceiling to fight Covid-19

  • Jun 29, 2021

KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 — Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz hinted today at the possibility of raising the statutory debt ceiling amid growing appeals for the government to inject more money into an economy hit by a fresh round of Covid-19 containment measures.

Zafrul said some of the money to fund the RM10 billion in cash aid to be given under the Pemulih relief package announced yesterday will come from more borrowing, underlying Putrajaya’s preparedness to raise credit.

“Whether we will cross the 50 per cent debt ceiling, I think that we will be studying it depending on the GDP forecast as we look at the debt-to-GDP numbers,” he told reporters at a press conference held online this afternoon.

“Because the 50 per cent (threshold) will be affected if the GDP numbers are lower than we expect; of course, the borrowing is also expected to go up,” the minister added.

“If there is a need to go to Parliament, of course, we will definitely go to Parliament to get this in line with what we need to do for the rakyat.”

Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/06/29/finance-minister-suggests-government-ready-to-raise-debt-ceiling-to-fight-c/1985803