Najib 'praises' gov't for hitting 'RM800b' debt mark

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak has alleged that the national debt has breached the RM800 billion mark.

"Pakatan Harapan's dream of an RM1 trillion national debt is becoming a reality," wrote Najib on his Facebook page today.

Najib published his post after a notice on the issuance of an RM3.5 billion bond tomorrow. This bond will mature in 2035.

Information from bond monitoring websites suggests it will be utilised for loan repayments or be paid into the development fund specified in the second schedule of the Financial Procedure Act 1957.

According to Najib's formula, the federal government had raised RM77.8 billion this year alone - RM70.5 billion in local sukuk and RM7.3 billion from a Japanese samurai bond - while redemption was RM17.7 billion.

"Now, (Finance Minister Lim) Guan Eng is in China to work on the panda bonds.

"If this trajectory continues, Pakatan Harapan is on track to add RM140 billion to the national debt this year alone," Najib said.

As of the first quarter of 2019, the national debt stood at RM776.8 billion, according to Bank Negara's website.

Najib also noted that the national debt amounted to RM686.8 billion by the fourth quarter of 2017 when BN was running the country.