Malaysia's national debt rose by 12 percent to 407 billion ringgit (129.7 billion U.S. dollars) last year from 362.39 billion ringgit (115.48 billion U.S. dollars) in 2009, according to the auditor-general's report released on Monday.
The audit report said the ratio of federal government debt to gross domestic product last year was 53.1 percent, exceeding 50 percent for the second year.
The government's expenditure in 2010 was at 525.93 billion ringgit (167.6 billion U.S. dollars) while its revenue was 519.99 billion ringgit (165.7 billion U.S. dollars), according to the report, resulting in a 5.95 billion ringgit (1.89 billion U.S. dollars) in budget shortfall.
The Malaysian government has been trying to contain its budget deficit by projecting a 4.7 percent deficit in its 2012 pre- election budget, a sharp decline from the two-decade high of over seven percent in 2009.
Analysts had advised the government to cut spending to avoid deficit from soaring higher./.