Malaysia dijangka capai hutang 1 trilion tahun 2020

Should the federal government’s debt grow at a rate of RM50 billion annually, it could reach RM1 trillion in 2020, said independent think-tank Research for Social Advancement (Refsa).

Refsa explored this mind-boggling scenario was explored in its focus paper on Budget 2012, which warned that Vision 2020 could “crumble into broken dreams” unless the government exercises financial prudence.

Refsa points out that the current deficit stands at RM437 billion, which  is more than double the RM217 billion budget deficit reported in 2004.

“Put another way, the government has added on more debt in the six-and-a-half years since 2004 than in the 47 years following Merdeka. Between 2007 and 2011, the deficit has been growing at about RM34 billion annually on average but assuming this increases to RM50 billion in additional debts annually, Malaysia can expect its total debt to double again by 2020 to RM1 trillion. That is 1 with 12 zeros behind it - RM1,000,000,000,000.” reads the paper.

Refsa said, “Assuming an interest rate of five percent, interest charges alone would be RM50 billion per year. That is about the cost of the MRT project. We haven’t even started thinking about repaying that debt yet.”