The public debt is the total amount owed by the Federal Government, both domestic and external. Since 1997 the Federal Government debt (public debt) has steadily increased. The latest figure for June 2011 places the debt at RM 437 billion.

Not only has the total debt been increasing, but the rate of growth has for the most part remained high. It crossed RM100 billion in 1998. It crossed 200 billion in 2004. It crossed 300 billion in 2008. It crossed 400 billion in 2010.

In other words, the time taken for the debt to grow has been:

100 billion to 200 billion = 6 years
200 billion to 300 billion = 4 years
300 billion to 400 billion = 2 years

That is an exponential growth rate. The average growth rate from 2005 – 2010 was 10.6%/year. If the current growth rate holds steady at 10%, the public debt will cross RM 1 trillion by 2020.

Ahmed Kamal
19th October 2011

(*) Domestic debt is debt owed to creditors within the country (citizens). Examples are treasury bills, securities (e.g. EPF), and other borrowings by the government.

(*) External debt is debt owed to creditors outside the country. Examples are external market loans in foreign currencies, and external bilateral and multilateral project loans.

——
Data used in this graph:

Format : Year – Amount

Domestic Debt (RM million)
1995 – 78038
1996 – 79211
1997 – 76968
1998 – 88197
1999 – 93750
2000 – 106805
2001 – 121396
2002 – 128680
2003 – 151483
2004 – 181970
2005 – 198670
2006 – 217220
2007 – 247120
2008 – 286121
2009 – 348600
2010 – 390356
June 2011 – 421016

External Debt (RM million)
1995 – 13331
1996 – 10470
1997 – 12952
1998 – 14924
1999 – 18368
2000 – 18821
2001 – 24328
2002 – 36283
2003 – 37284
2004 – 34654
2005 – 30000
2006 – 25005
2007 – 19602
2008 – 20316
2009 – 13786
2010 – 16745
June 2011 – 16166

Published On: October 19th, 2011 / Categories: Analyses / Tags: , , , /