MORE than 90,000 Malaysians have been declared bankrupt since 2013 with almost 97% of them failing to repay installments to financial institutions.

From 2013 until August this year, the Insolvency Department recorded a total of 94,408 people who were declared bankrupt, The Star Online reported.

“About 91,180 were declared bankrupt as they failed to repay instalments for financial products, including vehicle hire purchase loans, personal financing, housing loans, business loans, credit cards, social guarantors and corporate guarantors.

“People failing to repay hire purchase loans ranked the highest at 27.57% or 25,137 people,” said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said in a written reply to Che Mohamad Zulkifly Jusoh (BN-Setiu).

Che Mohamad had asked for the statistics on Malaysians being declared bankrupt.

Azalina said the lowest category of people being declared bankrupt were those who stood as corporate guarantors, which is 3.24% or 2,954 people.

In October, Azalina said that amendments to the Insolvency Act are expected to assist in reducing the number of bankruptcy cases by 50% to 10,000 cases a year.

She said the figure was in line with the average estimate of 20,000 cases annually administered by the Insolvency Department currently.

“The reduction was due to several amendments introduced under the act, namely the minimum level for bankruptcy which had been raised from RM30,000 to RM50,000, social guarantor is not made a bankrupt and the introduction of the voluntary arrangement,” she said. – November 2, 2017.