By SHAZNI ONG / Pic By MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

The government has established the Debt and Liability Management (DLM) Committee, a five-member team, as part of a bid to restructure and rationalise the country’s debt, which was raised in last year’s Budget 2019.

A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) yesterday said the committee, which comprises experts in finance, economics and law, will report directly to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Among the committee’s task is finding solutions to reduce government’s debt and liabilities to a manageable level.

The members are Ministry of Finance Treasury secretary general Datuk Ahmad Badri Mohd Zahir, Attorney General’s Chambers head of advisory division To’ Puan Azian Mohd Aziz, economic advisor to the prime minister Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid, Bank Negara Malaysia board member Gooi Hoe Soon and Securities Commission Malaysia board member Faris Rabidin.

PMO said the appointments of the members are effective immediately and the committee is expected to complete its task within the next 18 months.

During the tabling of Budget 2019, Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said to ensure a successful fiscal consolidation exercise on the government’s RM1 trillion debt, the government will reduce its debt as a percentage of the country’s GDP.

One of the proposals was the setting up of a Debt Management Office (DMO) that would  review and manage the government and its agencies’ current and future debt and liabilities.

“The DMO shall have oversight over debt issuance by the federal government, statutory bodies and special-purpose vehicles. The government intends to avoid higher debt service charges because of poor coordination of debt issuance.,” Lim said.