A POSITIVE STEP TO SPARK ECONOMY
But businesses will need to digitalise ops and rethink strategies, says economist
THE reopening of most businesses under the conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) is a positive move to kick-start the economy.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said this would allow micro and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large companies to restart their businesses.
“Additionally, it will improve the supply chain as industries are interrelated,” he told the New
Straits Times.
Afzanizam said, however, this was not a return to normalcy as businesses had to adhere strictly to social distancing rules and take records for contact tracing purposes.
Therefore, the improvement in economic activities would be very gradual, he added.
“Businesses big or small will need to digitalise their operations as much as they can. So we could see businesses rethinking their strategies to adapt to the new normal.
“As it is, we do not have a vaccine for Covid-19 yet. Clearly, the risk of a resurgence is there. I think the intermittent spike in new cases is probably quite normal. If it’s sporadic, then you know it’s dangerous to stay outside. And also, how persistent is the spike? Everyone should pay close attention to the statistics.”
According to Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the country had incurred about RM63 billion in losses since the MCO came into force on March 18.
He said the country would incur another RM35 billion in losses if the MCO was extended for another month.
Putra Business School Associate Prof Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff said based on statistics, Malaysia had seen an improvement in the pandemic curve.
“We are not going to see zero cases for the next few months but we do have enough healthcare facilities and personnel to handle the rate of infections. Therefore, the government feels we are capable of handling the health crisis at the moment.”
Razman said the priority now was to restart the economy because if the MCO was extended further, more people would lose their jobs and businesses could go bankrupt.
“Therefore, the decision to introduce the CMCO was to avert the potential economic crisis,” he added.