NAJIB'S BOLD MEASURES TO PROPEL MALAYSIA INTO DEVELOPED NATION STATUS
News Analysis by Tengku Noor Shamsiah Tengku Abdullah
KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian economy has demonstrated strong resilience in weathering the impact of the global financial meltdown and the proactive measures taken by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak have progressively borne fruit.
This was proven when Malaysia's economy leaped 10.1 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, its highest jump in a decade, and is on track for a six per cent full-year growth this year, boosted by strong domestic demand and the global economic recovery.
Najib was recently quoted as saying that following the favourable growth performance, coupled with the government's economic transformation initiatives, the growth target of six per cent for 2010 is achievable.
The 10.1 per cent growth in the first quarter, which exceeded expectations, came after a revised 4.4 per cent growth rate in the last quarter of 2009. It was the highest since the 11.7 per cent growth recorded in the first quarter of 2000.
Earlier this year, the prime minister unveiled plans for economic reforms which included an overhaul of affirmative action policies, as part of the road map to achieve developed-nation status by 2020.
The New Economic Model (NEM) is a framework that promises to bring the country into the realm of a high-income economy from its present middle-income status.
For the purpose of implementation, NEM proposes eight Strategic Research Initiatives (SRIs).
These include re-energising the private sector, developing a quality workforce, and creating a competitive domestic environment.
Growth is also considered both in terms of enhancing its sources and ensuring its sustainability.
Other initiatives target the public sector and affirmative action and to build Malaysia's knowledge-base and infrastructure.
On June 10, Najib tabled the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) in Parliament which, among others, targets a higher income nation, full employment, a private sector-led economy, strong support for an innovation-led growth and the restructuring of subsidies.
The country plans to increase its per capita income to RM38,845 by 2015 by setting a growth target of six per cent.
The five-year plan complements NEM that was announced on March 30 and focuses on improving key areas such as education, healthcare, environment, labour, public utilities, security and welfare.
The prime minister had said the biggest challenges for the 10th Malaysia Plan were three-fold.
Namely, to stimulate private sector investments to grow at 12.8 per cent or RM115 billion, to reduce fiscal deficit from five per cent in 2010 to three per cent in 2015 and to ensure the living standards and the quality of life of the people continues to improve, particularly for the bottom 40 per cent household income group.
"We want to become among the five top competitive countries in the world and this is achievable as we had been placed in the top 10 competitive economies which was achieved within one year," he was quoted as saying.
In May this year, Malaysia emerged the world's 10th most competitive nation, a remarkable jump from 18th, brought on by significant improvements in economic performance due to a host of factors such as influx of quality investments, pragmatic government policies and low risk political instability.
In giving Malaysia high marks and propelling its position by eight notches, the International Institute for Management Development in its World Competitiveness Yearbook 2010, said other telling factors were its effective implementation of government decisions, mainly attributable to the able stewardship of the economy by the prime minister.
Also commendable was the adaptability of government policies to economic changes, it said in apparent reference to the RM67 billion stimulus package unveiled by Najib, who is also Finance Minister, to mitigate the economy from the global slowdown due to the fallout from the US subprime credit crisis.
Najib's unveiling of NEM, aimed at transforming the nation into a high-income economy and has been able to sustain and position Malaysia on the right path towards attaining developed nation status by 2020, also was a strong feature of the adaptability of government policies to changes in the economy.
(BERNAMA)