KUALA LUMPUR: 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) will be given time to bring back money it has invested abroad on the understanding that it will be used to restructure the entity.

BNM Governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim said the state investment fund would use the money to restructure its debt obligations.

"The restructuring will take time," he told a press conference here today after disclosing the Gross Domestic Product growth for the first quarter of this year.

Bank Negara had said earlier that it had issued a letter of administrative compound to 1MDB for failure to fully comply with directions issued under the Financial Services Act 2013.

This included the requirement for 1MDB to repatriate monies remitted abroad following the revocations of the three permissions granted by Bank Negara to 1MDB in 2009, 2010 and 2011.--BERNAMA