In a parliamentary written reply, law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said these statistics were from March 2020 to September this year.

He said 6,344 cases were recorded last year and 4,863 this year.

“However, it will take at least a year from the date of breach of contract (default payment) to see the actual effect of Covid-19 on debtors. This is because creditors can only petition for bankruptcy action that has occurred in the previous six months.”

He said breaches of contract were expected after the six-month moratorium for housing and car loan repayments ended in September last year and after the targeted six-month moratorium ended in March.

They were also expected after the additional six-month moratorium announced this year, for which applications were received from July 7 onwards.

“The insolvency department will investigate the number of bankruptcy cases registered during these periods and will take appropriate action.”

Wan Junaidi was replying to a question from Dr Lee Boon Chye (PH-Gopeng), who asked about the number of Malaysians declared bankrupt since the start of the pandemic.