Masidi Manjun
KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Finance Minister Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun has refuted claims by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal that the Warisan-led administration in 2019 successfully repaid RM1 billion in state debt through its own fiscal management.
In a statement today, Masidi said the repayment of the State Government of Sabah Bonds (2014-2019) was the result of prudent financial planning by the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) administration, not a special initiative by the Warisan government.
“The bond was issued in December 2014 during the BN administration. Bank Negara Malaysia had imposed a condition that a dedicated Sinking Fund, known as the Kumpulan Wang Amanah Bagi Bayaran Balik Bon, be set up to ensure full repayment upon maturity,” he explained.
Under the bond terms, the State Government was required to deposit RM200 million into the Sinking Fund annually for five years, from 2014 to 2019. Masidi said that by the time Warisan took office in 2018, most of the repayment amount had already been accumulated.
“In 2019, there was RM1 billion in the Sinking Fund, enabling a one-off bullet payment to settle the bond in full. This was not the result of any new policy by the Warisan government, but rather the outcome of forward financial planning by the previous administration,” he said.
Masidi stressed that it was inaccurate for Mohd Shafie to portray the repayment as evidence of Warisan’s superior financial management, noting that he had already addressed the same matter in his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly in July 2024.
“The current administration is committed to providing the public with clear and accurate information about the State’s finances. We will not allow misleading statements to go unchallenged,” he said.
Mohd Shafie has repeatedly claimed that in 2019 his administration managed to pay off RM1 billion in debt left by the previous government. His claim is supposedly to show that his administration was a good manager of government finances.
