‘1MDB capable of fulfilling financial commitments’
KUALA LUMPUR: 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) is capable of fulfilling its financial commitments to International Petroleum Investment Company PJSC (IPIC), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan said.
Rahman said 1MDB had the funds raised from its ongoing rationalisation.
“The intention has always been to pay and there is no problem of paying, as mentioned by Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Razak) before — it is a regulatory and technical issue,” he told NST Business yesterday.
1MDB yesterday paid US$360 million (RM1.55 billion) of its debt to IPIC, a day earlier than its deadline today.
In a statement, 1MDB said the payment was pursuant to the amendment dated Aug 8 to the settlement deed with Minister of Finance (Incorporated) Malaysia and IPIC.
“1MDB has now remitted, to date, the equivalent of US$360 million to IPIC. The balance of the original July 31 payment obligation to IPIC is accordingly now due on Aug 31, 2017,” it said.
1MDB said all funds paid to IPIC were from proceeds of the ongoing rationalisation programme.
On Aug 8, IPIC had agreed to grant 1MDB an extension until the end of this month to meet its obligations if a payment of at least US$310 million was made by Aug 12.
This came after 1MDB missed its original payment deadline of July 31, as well as an ensuing fiveday extension due to technical issues.
Reiterating that the delay was just a technical and regulatory glitch, Rahman said: “We expect the full payment to be done without any problem.”
He said Malaysia’s economy had chalked up a good number in terms of trade and foreign direct investments, hence, the confidence level on the country had never been better.
“This (1MDB issue) is just a temporary problem and 1MDB is solving it. I believe this one will strengthen confidence and perception further on Malaysia’s economic strength and resilience.”
He said the local economy was moving at the right direction at the time when some thought that it was not doing well.
“We have proven that in the first quarter, we have hit 5.6 per cent growth. All rating agencies have upgraded our growth outlook and everybody is confident.”
Rahman said the country was moving forward with a lot of announcements by the government on infrastructure projects.
“All of these are catalysts for future development and I truly believe we have more to come.
“We will scale greater heights, economically speaking,” he said, noting that the exports and investments, as well as private consumption, were doing well.
“I don’t see the reason why the economy can’t move forward as envisaged by the prime minister,” he said.