‘No risk of economic downturn for Malaysia’
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng has downplayed claims that Malaysia could face an economic downturn, saying the government will initiate an economic stimulus package to boost the economic growth.
He said the economic stimulus package to stem the impact of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak would be announced soon.
The ministry, he said, would meet with industry players to seek their input.
“There is no risk of a downturn for Malaysia. But what we want is to boost national economic growth. The ministry will meet with quarters affected by the coronavirus outbreak soon to seek their views.”
On when the stimulus package would be ready, Lim said it would be tabled in cabinet first.
He said the ministry would consider suggestions for tax and electricity bill exemptions by the government, as done during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003.
In 2003, the government launched a RM8.1 billion stimulus package to cushion the economic impact of SARS.
In 2009, the government allocated RM60 billion to help tackle the global economic slowdown.
The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) had called on the government to bring forward its economic stimulus package planned to address the United States-China trade war impact if the 2019-nCoV outbreak worsened the economic situation, Bernama reported.
FMM president Tan Sri Soh Thian Lai said the federation believed that the stimulus package would minimise the impact on various sectors, including manufacturing, tourism and construction, that had been affected by the coronavirus, and support the economic growth.
“As China is Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 10 consecutive years and with trade growing 8.1 per cent to RM313.8 billion in 2018, the 2019-nCoV outbreak is expected to negatively impact the manufacturing sector.
“Given the close links with China’s global supply chain, exportoriented manufacturers that rely heavily on Chinese demand and those that import their raw materials from China, are expected to be affected,” he said yesterday.
FMM has proposed initiatives to boost Malaysia’s exports, including boosting the promotion of Madein-Malaysia products to create robust and sustained domestic market demand for Malaysian manufactured products, and strengthening the capacity and capability of the domestic manufacturing industry, which in turn, enhances efforts to build brand integrity in export markets.
He said the government could also reinstate the brand promotion grant, which was launched in 2003, to develop and promote Malaysian brands in overseas market.
FMM, he said, was urging the government to set up a budget implementation committee to ensure that all the proposed and approved initiatives and projects in the 2020 Budget, as well as previous national budgets, were implemented as planned.
He said if possible, the projects and initiatives could be expedited to boost the economy.