KUALA LUMPUR: Nearly 190,000 National Higher Education Corporation Fund (PTPTN) defaulters who have yet to make a single repayment on their loans are Rahmah cash aid recipients, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
These 189,580 defaulters make up 45.7 per cent of the 415,109 PTPTN defaulters who have never repaid their loans as of Aug 31.
In a written parliamentary reply, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir said the remaining 225,529 defaulters (54.3 per cent) were not Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah recipients.
He was responding to a question from Khairil Nizam Khirudin (PN-Jerantut) about the number of PTPTN borrowers earning above RM3,000 who have yet to make a single repayment to the body.
Zambry said PTPTN does not have borrowers' income data.
In Sept, Zambry revealed that over 430,000 PTPTN borrowers, collectively owing RM6 billion, have never repaid a single sen, even though many of them have started working.