Malaysian Finance Minister Says Government Debt Inflated by 1MDB

Malaysia’s government debt exceeds 1 trillion ringgit ($252 billion), inflated by borrowing by a state investment company that’s at the center of a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal.

Newly installed Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng told reporters on Tuesday that debt was higher than previously disclosed under the administration of ousted leader Najib Razak, partly masked by the way the accounts were reported. The Ministry of Finance’s most recent economic report puts federal government debt at 685 billion ringgit in 2017.