PETRONAS will not be tasked with financing the government’s economic recovery plans, said Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.

Asked if Putrajaya will ask the national oil company for a special dividend payout to help fund the government’s RM35 billion economic recovery package (Penjana), Tengku Zafrul said “No”.

“In the short term, the Penjana fiscal injection is about RM10 billion and it (will be financed) by local borrowings,” he said.

He said Malaysia would not issue any foreign currency bond to finance the fiscal injection given its strong liquidity.

“Although we can, technically, as our limit is RM35 billion and our current exposure in terms of foreign borrowings is around RM13 billion. We (are) still left with 15% capacity to borrow. 

“Given the liquidity to date, for the ringgit especially, we see no reason why we should tap into the foreign bond currency,” he told a press conference today after making a working visit to the Employees’ Provident Fund headquarters

Last week the government announced an RM35 billion economic recovery plan to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last year, Petronas paid the then Pakatan Harapan government a special dividend payment of RM30 billion to help fund the national budget. – June 12, 2020.

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