KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 24): Finance Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah has dismissed an opposition lawmaker's claim that the spending deficit of non-financial public corporations (NFPCs) is the "biggest time bomb to Malaysian public finance". Mohd Irwan refuted Pua's statement that the government has hidden the bulk of its excessive spending under the NFPCs "to maintain a semblance of a moderate budget deficit". "In the first place we won't publish our external debt and contingent liabilities if we are trying to hide [them]," he said. Mohd Irwan was also asked at the dialogue to state how much 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) had contributed to the country's external debt, which stood at RM848.2 million as at June-2016. "I am the chairman of 1MDB and I will answer that: Not a single sen of 1MDB's debts [form part] of the external debt," he said.

Source: The Edge Markets October 24, 2016 11:37 UTC