FELDA is looking to liquidate some assets to improve its cash flow, strengthen its financial position and cut borrowings, Economics Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali said.

He said the financially troubled statutory body was currently identifying the assets to sell off.

“We are in the process of identifying them. But some non-strategic assets with potential to be liquidated have already been identified.

“The bidding process is under way. We want to get the best prices for them,” he said without revealing the assets.

Azmin was speaking to reporters at Parliament today after tabling the Felda white paper which aimed at getting a complete picture of the mismanagement during the Barisan Nasional administration, leading to the many financial troubles suffered by the land development agency.

The paper also outlined Pakatan Harapan’s strategy to fix the scheme, which was created in 1956 to uplift thousands of Merdeka-era Malaysians out of poverty.

Azmin said Felda needed to improve its cash flow, strengthen its finances and reduce borrowings.

“For example, just last year, Felda had to pay off loans of RM1.4 billion to financial institutions. This year, the sum to pay is RM2.5 million.

“These debts prevent Felda from moving forward,” he said.

Azmin said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had given the government’s guarantee to enable Felda to negotiate with the financial institutions to restructure the loans.

About one million individuals in about 112,600 settler families currently live in 269 Felda schemes in the peninsula. – April 10, 2019.