PETALING JAYA - Some economists and politicians blame the soaring household debt in Malaysia to people spending beyond their means.
Academics, on the other hand, say that people are being pushed into debt due to high cost of living. Several people interviewed by FMT agreed with the academics.
“It’s not right to blame us for this. Things are not cheap these days,” said J Suruban, 28, an engineer.
He said many had to resort to using credit cards and applying for personal loans to manage their daily expenses due to the rising cost of living.
“After paying for the exorbitantly priced homes and cars, we have less money for our daily expenditure. It gets worse during festivities.
“So we tend to apply for credit cards or personal loans to pay for our expenses,” said Suruban.
Accountant Yue Chee Seng, 31, also shared Suruban sentiments, blaming the high cost of living for burning holes in people’s pockets.
“If houses and cars don’t cost that much, I’m sure we will be debt-free. It is not true that we want to spend a lot but we are forced into it,” he said.
Yue urged the government to help the younger generation by reducing prices, especially for houses.
“The government should help by creating more housing schemes which the younger generation can afford. That would help reduce the level of household debt,” he added.
Executive Siti Rahimah Salleh, 30, said the government already put young graduates into debt even before they start working, with the National Higher Education Corporation (PTPTN) loan.
“I’m still paying RM300 monthly for PTPTN after five years of working but on top of that, I have to pay RM380 for my car and insurance,” she said.
Not being able to afford a house, Rahimah, a mother of one, stays in a rented room, where she pays an additional RM400.
“And that does not include daily expenses like groceries and school fees for my son,” she said.
Another engineer, Navineesh Raj, 28, claims that even insurance policies contribute to household debt indirectly.
“People tend to spend too much on insurance, which is a necessity these days. That takes away a substantial amount of our salary.
“All these payments, including housing and car loans, add up to the ever mounting household debt,” he said.
Escalating food price
Another executive, Surjit Singh, said he had to fork out nearly half of his RM3,000 salary just to pay for mortgage and car loan.
“House prices are very high these days. We are not even talking about high food prices which is also reducing our spending power,” he said.
Surjit said the government should take more measures to reduce house and car prices immediately to alleviate the problems faced by young working adults.
He added that the authorities should also check on why food prices were escalating for no apparent reason.
“Locals cannot even buy a decent house but foreigners are able to buy more than one. There is something really wrong here,” said Surjit.
Siti Rahimah echoed Surjit’s sentiments except reducing car prices.
“What we need is an efficient public transport system to reduce congestion in the city,” she said.
By G Lavendran and G Vinod
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