M’sia’s PM: M’sia has less debts than Singapore!

If you follow M’sian politics, you will know that M’sia politicians, be it the ruling BN govt or their opposition, like to use Singapore for comparisons, if not as a convenient scapegoating target.

And this behavior is more evident when M’sian is gearing up for their general elections.

A recent example which had most S’poreans, and not a small number of M’sians too, rolling their eyes in disbelief, was the claim from the M’sian Deputy Education Minister that Malaysians' command of English was better than Singapore’s. (See here, here and here)

The latest salvo in the SG vs MY debate was fired by none other than the M’sian PM himself.

In a recent blog post, the M’sian PM said that:

 “… Not only that, (the M’sian) Government debt to GDP ratio is better than developed countries like Singapore at 112 percent, United Kingdom at 89.3 percent, Canada at 92.3 percent and many other examples. …”

Najib must have a taken a leaf from the SG opposition’s playbook of half-truths. Time and time again, the SG opposition wannabes will throw out this misleading statistic to scare and try to stir resentment in the SG electorate.

“Look! The PAP Govt is so corrupt! Not only are they refusing to return your CPF money but they are racking up so much debts! It is true! Look at the World Bank reports!”

Sounds scary, isn’t it. The SG Govt has external debts that are equivalent to 112% of its GDP, or about US$1.766 trillion depending on which article/source you are reading. (See here, here and here.)

But here’s the problem.

While the statistics quoted is quite correct, the interpretation of that statistic is wrong.

I’m not going to attempt to explain why Najib’s interpretation is wrong. It’s a hard topic to explain ‘cos my English is not that powderful as Najib’s (according to his education minister).

Plus this external debt question has been explained to death so many times by tons of better writers than me who can, and have clearly explain the facts. Here are some of them:

Mothership: Najib claims that S’pore government debt higher than our GDP, but here’s why you shouldn’t panic (6 Jan 2018)

Straits Times: askST: Why does Singapore have an external debt of US$1.766 trillion? (20 Nov 2016)

The Middle Ground: Why Singapore’s high external debt is nothing to worry about (19 Sept 2016)

The Scarlet Ibis: Singapore Government Debt – A Cause for Alarm or a Misunderstanding? (12 Sep 2011)

Quora: Why does Singapore have such high public debt?

And here’s what the SG Govt has publicly stated about its debt levels and national reserves.

SG Factually: Is it fiscally sustainable for Singapore to have such a high level of debt?

SG Ministry of Finance: FAQs about Singapore’s Reserves

Bottomline: Don’t just read the headlines, or take other’s words at face value. Read up, see what the facts are and decide for yourself.

Oh, and Najib, it would be great if you and your colleagues can stop dragging S’pore into M’sian politics. It’s rather tiresome and doesn’t do any good for our bilateral relations.