KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 ― Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak denied today that sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) is unable to pay back its debt to Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), saying the issue is now a “technical matter”.
The debt repayment is not expected to impact investor confidence in the Malaysian economy, he told Parliament.
“On the question of 1MDB, a statement has already been issued. Therefore, that is only a technical matter and not a question of not being able to pay back.
“So it is expected to not affect the confidence towards our economy,” he said during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat meeting.
Najib who is also finance minister was responding to Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail who had questioned the repayment issue between 1MDB and IPIC, suggesting that it might affect investor confidence.
She said that while Putrajaya has given assurances that the country’s economy is doing well, the public were still struggling with living cost issues and unemployment.
Najib said that Malaysia’s debts are under control and had even reduced.
He added that the government is on track to having a balanced budget.
“I want to say that the country's debts are within a controlled boundary. In fact, it was able to be reduced from 54 per cent of the GDP, to 52.5 per cent, with regards to the fiscal deficit of our country, the government managed to reduce it from 6.7 to Insyaallah, 3 per cent negative, by the end of this year. And we are heading towards having a balanced budget.
Yesterday, 1MDB issued a statement saying that it is awaiting proceeds from its debt rationalisation plan to use as payment to IPIC.
The state-owned strategic investment firm issued the statement following news reports that it missed a scheduled payment to IPIC.
On April 24, 1MDB confirmed that it reached a deal with IPIC to settle a debt dispute worth RM5.8 billion.
