Najib: Country wont go bankrupt on my watch

PETALING JAYA: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak put to rest certain quarters concern on the nation's allegedly poor economic condition by saying that a country will only be declared bankrupt if it is unable to pay its debt.
He also took the opportunity to lambast several parties who repeatedly alleged and spread misconceptions of the economic situation which created fear among the people.
"I would like to clarify that a government will be declared bankrupt only if it is unable to pay off its debt," Najib said when presenting the Budget 2017 at the Dewan Rakyat here today.
Najib said three internationally accepted rating agencies - Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poor's - who assesses a country's ability in paying off its debts has labelled Malaysia as the same level as countries with an advanced economies.

Fitch ratings, he added, showed Malaysia's performance as better than countries from the Southeast Asia region, namely the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
"Fitch had rated Malaysia with A- compared with the Philippines (BBB-), Thailand (BBB+) and Vietnam (BB-). In fact, our rating is similar to that of advanced and larger economies such as Republic of Korea (AA-), China (A+), Taiwan (A+), Japan (A). This means, bankruptcy is never in Malaysia's economic dictionary," said Najib who received a loud support from the Barisan Nasional( BN) lawmakers.
He stressed that Malaysia is not a failed state as the characteristics of a failed nation is absent in this country.
"Thus, this is a false accusation. I would like to clarify the meaning of a failed state. It refers to a country that fails to implement most of its responsibilities and basic functions of a government,"
"This includes the failure of police and armed forces in maintaining national security and public order of the country, failure of the Government to pay salary of the civil servants as well as, failure in providing basic amenities such as water and electricity as well as
hyperinflation that could collapse the economy,"
"These characteristics do not exist in Malaysia and with the blessings of God, this Government will never allow our country to become a failed state," Najib assured.