Tuesday 11 October 2011

Household Debts; A Major Concern?

So how long will it take until it goes boom?

There seems to be some concerns by economists after the Budget anouncement; that the government seems to be spending their coffers without taking into account the global conditions - in other words, they're being too optimistic. Economists are concerned about the rising household debt in Malaysia, apparently walking on a trend similiar to the 2008 financial crisis. Apparently the rising debt is attributed to repayment of loans (housing and car) as well as private consumption. Let me just touch on the two; repayment of housing and car loans.

For housing loans, I think its quite evident that the majority of the snowballing rise is attributed to owners purchasing their 2nd or even 3rd house ; leaving to the younger first house buyers outside of the loop. The reasoning? Pure investment. But many people fail to realize that once the market moves into a purchasing frenzy through, driven by pure investment rather than consumption, this could flow into a housing bubble. The result? Those with vision (too much vision) and considerable income have no liquidity; whereas the young ones end up homeless and fighting for a good space. As for car loans, its simply pure manipulation; the government actually wants people to get car loans - to help Proton, much like how they subsidize fuel to keep it cheap, to help Petronas. These two factors inarguably results in citizens not pressuring the government enough to develop a world class effecient public transportation system.

Now apparently, the same problem is happening in Korea, but it is slightly different in the case of Koreans. Based on my readings and observations, the rise in debt is mostly attributed to Jeonse Loans, and unlike Malaysia, they have limited land and twice the number of people. What is similiar to Malaysia is the rising debt is attributed to rising living expenses however there is no market distortion in Korea; no subsidies, no manipulation of preferences - creating a competitive and effecient market driven system. The Korean government was even forced to take measures such as increasing interest rates, with a more extreme method of blocking personal loans. To the least, the government recognizes this issue and is actually formulating a plan to combat and reduce the household debt in the country. What about Malaysia's Government?

Now I hate banks even more.

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