Khazanah Nasional faces crossroads amid potential assets sale

SADDLED with government liabilities that exceed RM1 trillion (S$337 billion), Malaysia needs fresh perspectives and realistic solutions to address its indebtedness and refill the state coffers.

That task lies squarely on the shoulders of the country's new government led by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. If no solution is actively sought, the debt woes could "explode in our faces at a later date", in the words of Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng. Another big risk is a potential downgrade of the all-important sovereign credit rating which determines the nation's borrowing costs.

Against this backdrop of worryingly high public debt and the urgent need to raise cash to pare debt, the government has postponed and is reviewing certain big-ticket projects.