KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Malaysia will have to pay about RM50 billion of beleaguered state fund 1MDB’s dues, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told reporters today.

The country’s new government has vowed to find out how funds went missing from 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, set up nearly a decade ago by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, a disappearance it says led to the Finance Ministry having to bail out the fund a year ago.

Last week, Lim said the government had guaranteed RM38 billion of 1MDB’s debt at the end of 2017. The government had also already paid RM7 billion of the fund’s dues since April 2017.

“If you look at the loans that we have to pay, we are looking at ballpark number RM50 billion. Again, is that the whole picture?” Lim said, raising the possibility that the liabilities might exceed that figure.

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The sum of RM50 billion included interest and repayment of debts, he added.

Another focus for the government is how to cut federal debt and liabilities it puts at around RM1 trillion.

It is reviewing all the country’s large projects, and has decided to axe a high-speed rail link between the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and neighbouring Singapore. Lim said he hoped reviews of other projects would be finalised by year-end.

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“We hope to have final decisions on projects by the end of the year, maybe earlier,” he said, adding that the government would look at the cost of each project and whether it was in the best interests of the country. — Reuters