Pakatan Harapan government's cancellation of China-linked mega projects has caused the East Asian country to react by importing palm oil from Indonesia instead, said Padang Terap MP Mahdzir Khalid.
According to the former education minister, the two countries had inked a deal on the matter, following which, Chinese companies had purchased additional palm oil from Indonesia worth US$726 million on July 12.
"As a result (of the deal), the price of the palm oil has gone down to RM2,100 per tonne and this is the lowest (it has been) in the past three years," he said in a statement today.
However, media reports of such talks between China and Indonesia show that it took place before the Harapan coalition assumed power in the May 9 general election.
Mahdzir went on to say that the export from Malaysia to the Chinese market is declining and Malaysia is being left behind in international economic trade.
He said the Pakatan Harapan government's move to cancel the projects had left a negative impact on the country's economic growth which continues to shrink.
"Economic experts agree that the high impact of project cancellations, such as ECRL (East Coast Rail Line) which was worth RM55 billion and later ballooned to RM66.7 billion under Pakatan Harapan, will affect economic growth.
"And it is likely that Malaysia will be positioned behind Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia by 2023," he said.
Mahdzir said it is crucial for Malaysia to "solve problems via discussion" by focusing on economic diplomacy so that the people can continue to enjoy economic prosperity and infrastructure development.
However, Mahdzir was not optimistic that this would happen under the Harapan government, saying that it failed to bring new investments into the country.
Meanwhile, The Edge quoted Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad as saying earlier today that China had expressed its intention to buy another 500,000 tonnes of palm oil from Malaysia, provided the prices are competitive. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.