Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the country’s debt has reached an alarming 1 trillion RM (252 billion USD), the New Straits Times reported.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad (Source: Xinhua)

Speaking to civil servants under the Prime Minister’s Department on May 20, Mahathir said important measures must be taken for the nation to quickly recover from the situation, adding that the country used to have debts of around 300 billion RM when he was the PM previously.

Malaysia’s gross domestic product hit 296.36 billion USD, equivalent to the 2017 figure.

According to the Malaysiakini newspaper, Mahathir has formed a special task force to investigate the 1MDB scandal as well as to prosecute wrongdoers and retrieve related assets.

The task force will be responsible for coordinating investigations, detecting and retrieving assets from the misappropriation of 1MDB funds stashed or invested domestically and abroad.

It will also be seeking assistance from the US, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada and other countries.

(Source: VNA)