Malaysia now has the highest householddebt-to-GDP level in Asia. According to the central bank’s annual report, household debt in the country had grown at a faster pace of 12.7% annually from 2003 to 2013 to 86.8% of GDP at the end of last year, compared with the growth of total household assets at 10.4% annually to 321.6% of GDP at end-2013. In level terms, though, household assets had continued to exceed debt by 3.7 times. This, Bank Negara said, was mainly attributable to rising household income, which facilitated asset accumulation through an increase in savings and borrowings.
