KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8: PKR deputy president Azmin Ali (pic) has sounded warning over the soaring domestic household debts, which reached RM577 billion, or equivalent to 74 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
Referring to a statement by Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Azmin said out of the RM577 billion, RM118 billion consists of car loans, RM22 billion personal loans while the biggest chunk is home loans at RM225 billion.
“Indirectly, this reduces the people’s disposal income which can be used to improve their standard of living,” said the Gombak member of parliament, describing the situation as "dire state".
While house and car loans were inevitable, Azmin said the current situation had caused people to rely on credit cards for their expenditure, said to be some RM200 billion of the household debts.
“These figures show a gloomy prospect for the national economy and the people’s hope to enjoy better standard of living, especially when salaries have not increased for so long,” he warned.
He said the fact that the household debts formed 74 percent of the GDP was a grave concern, saying the government kept accumulating debts over 50 percent of GDP for the first time in the country's history.
On the vehicle and housing loans, Azmin attributed the high figure to the BN-led government's policy to "protect its cronies’ interests which discriminated the people."
“Although officially only RM2 million Malaysians have minimal taxable salary, the fact is is every family in Malaysia is subjected to higher rate of taxes imposed on purchase of cars. The price of car in Malaysia is way more expensive due to 3 different taxes, import duty, excess duty and sales tax,” said Azmin.
Azmin also pointed out to the rising property price which burdened those in the lower income bracket, denying them an opportunity to own homes.
Azmin called on Malaysians to evaluate new and radical solutions to reduce such costs, and said PKR would be having a series of meetings to address the issue.
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