KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 17,599 Malaysians were declared bankrupt from 2020 to May this year, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Selangor topped the list with a total of 4,164 individuals declared bankrupt during the period, followed by 2,203 in the Federal Territories, 1,987 in Johor, 1,642 in Sabah and 1,278 in Perak.
There were also 976 individuals declared bankrupt in Kedah, followed by 949 in Penang, 948 in Sarawak, 831 in Negri Sembilan, 776 in Pahang, 724 in Kelantan, 569 in Terengganu, 453 in Melaka and 99 in Perlis.
The figures were provided in a July 21 Parliamentary reply by the Prime Minister's Department to Karupaiya Mutusami (PH-Padang Serai), who asked for bankruptcy statistics from 2020 to this year and the government's efforts to address the issue.
To reduce bankruptcy rates among Malaysians, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had said the Insolvency Department would continue implementing various outreach programmes to spread awareness.
He also said the department had amended the Insolvency Act to raise the bankruptcy threshold from RM50,000 to RM100,000.
"Besides that, the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK) has organised programs to spread awareness on bankruptcy," he added.
Meanwhile, in a separate written reply dated July 21, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said there were 239 bankruptcy cases involving those aged 25 and below from 2018 till May this year.
For the same period, there were 9,913 bankruptcy cases involving those aged 25 to 34, and 17,213 cases involving those between 35 and 44 years old.
Wan Junaidi was responding to Datuk Seri Dr Richard Riot (GPS-Serian), who asked about the number of youths who had been declared bankrupt.
On June 23, the Insolvency Department revealed that on average, 18 people were declared bankrupt every day in the first five months of this year.
