Thailand
Don: Management of Malaysia’s economy is good
BANGI: The establishment of new policies and proper management of the cost of living are vital to ensure economic sustainability, according to Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia vice-chancellor Professor Tan Sri Noor Azlan Ghazali.
Noor Azlan, who is also head of the economics and management cluster at the National Council of Professors Malaysia, said that the three areas of focus were housing, transportation and food.
“There should be a dedicated team established to tackle these issues and look at increasing the income opportunities of the people.
“Some of the recommendations include increasing the nation’s productivity, modernising the agricultural sector, as well as monitoring the supply chain to weed out monopolistic behaviour and collusion,” he told a media briefing here on the national economy and challenges in conjunction with the coming general election.
On the other hand, Noor Azlan noted that the overall fiscal management of Malaysia was good, and the Government’s current debt levels were manageable. He said fiscal deficit was not an absolute marker of a well-managed nation.
Instead, it was more important to know what the deficit was for and if the country had the ability to pay off its debts. It was not necessary to have a fiscal surplus, but rather, a well-managed fiscal deficit that resulted in a progressing nation.
In 2016, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Malaysia was RM1,230bil, while total government debt was at RM648bil.
Over the years, Malaysia’s GDP has grown at a higher rate compared with total debt, and the percentage of debt service payments is on a downward trend.
In 2017, the percentage of debt service payment was at 4.2% compared with 7.2% in 2000.
On the goods and services tax (GST), Noor Azlan said that the abolition of the GST would not result in the lower prices of goods.
“High cost of living is a structural issue that comes in tandem with urbanisation. It is not cause by policies and the GST, and definitely not because of mismanagement of the economy,” he said.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2018/04/27/don-management-of-economy-is-good/#i7lr7dcF0kVKTDHB.99