THE government will continue to spend heavily but it not just to ensure Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim appears popular among the people, Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Rafizi said the government would continue to spend wisely to get the best value, taking into consideration the national deficit. 

“The government will not take large debts until it passes the national deficit that is currently considered to be in a dangerous situation internationally,” the Pandan MP told the Dewan Rakyat during the minister’s question and answer session. 

“Not having debts does not mean the government is not spending. The Budget 2023 tabled by Tambun (Anwar) recently is the biggest in the history of our country. 

“It means the government has spent. The development expenditure of more than RM90 billion is the largest in the history of our country.

“There is no question of the government not spending. The important thing is that the government spends wisely and gets the best value,” Rafizi added.

Rafizi was responding to an additional question from Mohd Shahar Abdullah (Paya Besar-BN), who asked to explain the government’s action of not wanting to get into debt to restore the country’s economic situation. 

In a snarky reply, Rafizi said the government would not want to spend “blindly”, like what the previous Perikatan Nasional government did, when Shahar was deputy finance minister II. 

“It’s not like spending with debt blindly but when we check two or three years later, the debt was used to finance projects like Jana Wibawa,” Rafizi said. 

The government under Muhyiddin Yassin had introduced Jana Wibawa to speed up project implementation and to boost the economy. 

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission probed into several Bersatu leaders recently on the scheme.

Rafizi said the current debt is somewhat related to the future debts the government plans to take. 

“Every time a new administration takes the debt-only approach without taking into consideration our debt deficit and debt rating, it means the amount of interest that needs to be paid will double.

“If it is now RM40 billion, then five years later it will be RM60 billion a year. 

“Is it better for us to pay the debt through higher interest up to RM60 billion a year or spend the money prudently and to control the debt so it can be used to directly help the vulnerable groups?” he asked. 

Rafizi said borrowing to exceed the deficit will cause the country’s debt rating to be higher, hence requiring the government to pay a high interest in the future. – March 22, 2023.