The government has used up the entire RM205.49 million in the Tabung Harapan Malaysia (THM) fund to service 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) debts, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

The last of the monies amounting to RM61.68 million was utilised on Nov 28 to pay the sukuk interest on 1MDB's Islamic medium term notes (IMTN), he said.

“This represents only a portion of the total IMTN sukuk interest payment of RM143.75 million. The balance of RM82.07 million has also been settled using the 1MDB asset recovery fund which totals about RM1.45 billion so far,” he said in a statement today.

The THM fund, which amounted to RM205.49 million as of Jan 14 this year, comprised RM202.72 million donated by Malaysian citizens as well as RM2.77 million in interests.

Prior to this, the government had used the THM fund for part of the sukuk interest payment on 1MDB's IMTN totalling RM143.75 million (paid on May 30), dishonoured cheque repayment of RM51,500 (June 16) and erroneous donations repayment of RM9,457 (June 25).

“The government is committed to settle all debt obligations inherited from the previous administration. The next payment that needs to be made by 1MDB will be the interest on bonds issued by 1MDB Global Investments Ltd (GIL) amounting to US$66 million payable on March 9, 2020.

“In total, the government will have to spend RM13.9 billion on 1MDB and SRC International Sdn Bhd's debts from 2017 to 2020,” Lim said.

Of the RM13.9 billion, the ministry and Minister of Finance Inc had paid RM6.7 billion in 2017 and RM2.1 billion last year for 1MDB and SRC.

A sum of RM2.4 billion has been allocated to settle the two companies’ debts for 2019 and another RM2.7 billion for next year.

“1MDB's current debts stand at RM50.5 billion including interests, which will only be fully repaid in 2039,” he said.

- Bernama