He said his ministry is taking a holistic approach to the matter, stressing that no final decision has been made yet on the imposition of travel bans.

“We do not believe travel bans are the only measure we can take. I must emphasise that we must look at all the factors as a whole to recover the money loaned out.”

Zambry was responding to a question on whether the government has decided to impose overseas travel bans on PTPTN borrowers who default on their loans.

On March 11, deputy higher education minister Mustapha Sakmud said the government is considering reimposing the measure abolished seven years ago.

In January, PTPTN issued 2.1 million reminder notices to borrowers who had failed to repay their loans according to their set schedules.

Zambry said there had been an increase in repayments after the issuance of these notices.