Young Malaysians’ US$1.3bn short-term credit spree sparks warning over bad debt

Malaysians aged 30 and below bought some 5.4 billion ringgit (US$1.32 billion) worth of goods and services on short-term credit in the first half of this year, the country’s Finance Ministry has revealed. The ministry said it had recorded 65.9 million “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) purchases among younger consumers in the first six months of 2026 – equivalent to more than one in three, or 37.9 per cent, of total purchases nationwide. As of June 30, the outstanding BNPL financing balance among this...