Monday 13 September 2010

Govt mulling trading ringgit offshore to boost investments

From: MLTIC

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia could end the year with at least 6% growth based on strong domestic consumption and fairly strong external demand, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

“Yes, I believe we can achieve a robust growth this year. There is enough momentum domestically. And external demand, although there will be some sort of dampening effect, we expect it to be fairly strong,” he told CNBC’s Martin Soong in an interview yesterday.

Najib also said that the country would consider making the ringgit tradable overseas if it could bring in more foreign investment.

But he also said most investors did not view this as the key for their investment decisions.

“If we think that it’s going to help the economy, certainly we will review the situation,” he said.

The Government was monitoring the currency to ensure it reflects economic fundamentals and at the moment, the stronger ringgit doesn’t seem to be having a negative impact on exports, said Najib.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister, said the wage structure would also be reviewed, adding that an announcement would be made soon to attract Malaysian talent outside the country.

“We would have to look at the wage structure in Malaysia. I think we have undervalued human talent in Malaysia. We need to find a mechanism so that we can raise wage levels in Malaysia,” he said.

He also invited United States President Barack Obama to engage more economically with Asian countries, especially within Asean.

“This is an important region and the US cannot afford not to have a serious policy and engagement towards Asia. That should manifest itself in many ways,” he said.

Najib also said that the Government was committed to more sophisticated development policies for Sabah and Sarawak under the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP).

“If you look at the resources we are going to allocate under the 10MP, especially with respect to the Government Transformation Programme, quite a large chunk of it will be channelled to Sarawak and Sabah,” he said.

Najib added that the Government’s objective was for more equitable development of basic transport and energy infrastructure in the two states as part of the New Economic Model (NEM).

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