Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim stated that the government has been forced to assume a heavy financial burden of up to RM1 billion annually to ensure the survival of the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA), attributing the crisis to poor management and unmet financial commitments by the previous administration.
In a build up to the upcoming Johor election, the PKR President emphasised that the current administration had to step in with substantial funding because previous promises regarding the restructuring and disposal of FELDA settlers’ debts were not fully executed or formally documented in past federal budgets.
To address FELDA’s severe financial constraints, the MADANI Government approved a government guarantee of up to RM9.9 billion for the agency to issue sukuk (Islamic bonds) and revolving credit facilities.
Under this comprehensive recovery plan, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) is actively injecting up to RM1 billion per annum over a 10-year period.
Anwar, who also serves as the Finance Minister, clarified that while past administrations publicly claimed to have resolved the settlers’ debt issues as early as 2021, official treasury records showed that no formal budgetary allocations or underlying financial agreements had been secured under the 2021 and 2022 national budgets.
