Putrajaya will open its borders to international tourists by Jan 1 at the latest in an effort to address the sluggish tourism industry.
This was decided by the National Recovery Council (NRC) chaired by Muhyiddin Yassin today.
Muhyiddin said the tourism industry's recovery process has been relatively slow due to the absence of foreign visitors.
"In view of the achievements seen through the national vaccination programme, the council today decided to open borders to foreign visitors by Jan 1, 2022, at the latest to expedite the recovery of the tourism sector," he said.
Muhyiddin said the council was also briefed on the economy by chief statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin, who said the country's economic performance for Q2 2021 was still below pre-pandemic levels except for the manufacturing sector.
"The council was also informed that the country's economic prospects for the third and fourth quarter were still challenging," he said.
He said the government will undertake more efforts to ensure the country hit its economic goals. He did not elaborate.
In August, Bank Negara had forecasted GDP to grow by three to four percent this year after the country's economy contracted by 5.6 percent last year.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin said the council also deliberated on the country's labour requirements and the implementation of the Human Resource Recalibration Programme by the Immigration Department director-general Khairul Dzaimee.
"The council acknowledges the steps that have been taken to improve the programme with the goal of reducing the lack of human resources faced by various economic sectors," he said.
Muhyiddin did not elaborate on the measures taken. Among others, the programme will allow migrants without proper papers access to employment.
The NRC said it was satisfied with a briefing from Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah on the downtrend in daily Covid-19 cases, deaths, hospital admissions and the high vaccination rate. - Mkini
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