Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz has announced that the government will soon be carrying out a short- and medium-term economic recovery plan to revive the country’s economy.
The plan will encompass six aspects, namely:
- Health guidelines and safe operating procedures in the new norm
- Capacity building, hiring of workers, and job creation
- Boosting consumer spending, particularly through digital avenues
- Restructuring, recovery, and growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially through digital technology
- Enhancing resilience and developing growth opportunities for medium and large-sized companies
- Boosting investor confidence and generating short-term economic growth.
Tengku Zafrul also commented the government is confident in Malaysia’s ability to face the increasingly challenging global economy. “While the Malaysian economy is expected to record slower growth this year, economic growth for 2021, on the other hand, is projected to be better based on future global and domestic economic recovery measures,” he said in a statement.
Tengku Zafrul’s statement was released in conjunction with Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) announcement of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) performance for the first quarter of 2020 (Q1). According to the central bank, Malaysia’s economic growth in Q1 has slowed to 0.7%, affected primarily by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Separately, senior minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, said that the government will unveil the six-month short-term economic recovery plan by end of May 2020. It will be followed by a medium-term revitalisation plan under Budget 2021 in November 2020, and subsequently a long-term reform plan in the form of the 12th Malaysian Plan, scheduled to be revealed in January 2021.
Malaysia is already in the midst of implementing a six-phase plan to aid Malaysia’s economic recovery. It is comprised of 6Rs, namely resolve, resilience, restart, recovery, revitalise, and reform. The country is currently in the restart phase. The resolve and resilience phase took place earlier when government enforced the movement control order (MCO) and announced the Prihatin Economic Stimulus Package, respectively.
(Sources: Malay Mail, The Edge Markets)
