In a written parliamentary reply, Tengku Zafrul said the federal government’s debt stood at RM1.045 trillion, or 63.8% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), as of the end of June.

At the same time, he said, the remaining 1MDB debt commitments, including principal payments and interests for two bonds and one sukuk, amounted to RM32.08 billion.

He said debt commitments for SSER stood at RM8.78 billion, while SRC’s debts had been resolved as of March 28.

“Generally, 1MDB, SRC and SSER’s debts do not increase the federal government’s debt amount directly.

“However, 1MDB, SRC and SSER are entities that have received government guarantees under the Loans Guarantee (Bodies Corporate) Act 1965 or Section 14 of the Financial Procedure Act.

“Therefore, these entities will expose the government to contingent liability risks as long as the entities’ debt commitments have yet to be resolved,” he said.

Tengku Zafrul said these entities were also categorised as guarantee commitments because they received funds from the government in paying off their debts.

He was responding to Wong Kah Woh (PH-Ipoh Timur), who asked about the amount of the nation’s debt currently and how much of it involved the debts of 1MDB, SRC and SSER.