Najib: We’ll be proven right, sooner or later

PM says ratings agencies have praised Malaysia for not adopting populist policies

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is not a failed state as it has built up its economic resilience which has been hailed by international agencies, said the prime minister, Najib Razak, yesterday.

He said international rating agencies had hailed Malaysia for not adopting populist policies, and instead being brave enough to lay a strong and resilient foundation such as by introducing the Goods and Services Tax and rationalising the subsidy programme, he said.

“The two measures were not popular as seen in public reaction but were positive to strengthen and boost resilience of the national economy. Sooner or later, the government’s decisions will be proven right,” he said at the SME Bank Entrepreneur Awards here.

Najib said the country has also improved its economic competitiveness and was ranked 18th out of 140 countries in the Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016 released by the World Economic Forum, compared to its 20th ranking last year.

“This shows that Malaysia is not a ‘failed state’. We will drive to become a country that is more successful and our ambition to become an advanced economy will come true,” he said.

Najib noted that small and medium enterprises had a higher growth rate than the national gross domestic product, at an average rate of 6.9 percent over 2011-14, compared to GDP growth of 5.4 percent, he said.

The SME sector was expected to record 6-7 percent growth compared to 4.5-5.5 percent GDP growth, he said.

He said the country’s strong economic fundamentals and the policies introduced by the National SME Development Council had enabled the sector to consistently record higher growth compared to the country’s.

Najib said the increase in productivity was also vital. “I hope that through automation and innovation, the aim will be achieved besides enhancing human capital development,” he said.

The prime minister added that the government would help boost the competitiveness of the SMEs so that they would be innovative and be high value-added.

“This is important to ensure that the SME sector is capable of facing a market which is more competitive with the emergence of Asean as a single community and if Malaysia joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement,” he said.

Najib said the government was also considering additional incentives for the SME sector under the 2016 Budget to be presented on October 23.

— BERNAMA