Robust economy indicative of GTP’s success — Idris
by By Ronnie Teo, ronnieteo@theborneopost.com. Posted on August 11, 2012, Saturday
NEW INITIATIVES: Idris gestures as he delivers his speech during the launch of the GTP 2.0 in Kuching yesterday. Idris affirms that GTP 2.0, which will run from 2013 to 2015, will showcase new initiatives aimed at improving the lives and livelihoods of Malaysians, including Sarawakians. – Photo by Chimon Upon
KUCHING: The initiation of the Government Transformation Programme’s (GTP) second phase of its roadmap (GTP 2.0) is a positive indication for the local economy, as evidenced by the country’s robust moves so far in 2012.
With the first phase of the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) coming to a close by the end of this year, Performance Enhancement & Delivery Unit (Pemandu) chief executive officer Datuk Seri Idris Jala announced in Kuching yesterday that GTP 2.0 will feature several new initiatives set to fuel the economy forward.
“We want to ensure that Malaysia achieves the high-income nation status by the year 2020,” he outlined.
“We must create a vision of competitiveness to flourish in Malaysia.
“That means through structural reforms, local companies and foreign companies already in Malaysia can make it in the market place in the world by producing products and services that are competitive.”
Among others, Idris said Malaysia was performing well in terms of economic growth thanks to the efforts made under the first phase of the GTP. For example, despite the global economy going through a ‘testing period’, Idris affirmed that Malaysia was still performing quite well.
“For the first quarter of the year, Malaysia registered a gross domestic product (GDP) of 4.7 per cent,” he said during the GTP 2.0 launch.
“This bodes well, compared with other countries, such as Singapore (1.4 per cent), South Korea (2.8 per cent), Taiwan (0.4 per cent) and Hong Kong (0.4 per cent) for the same period.
“Additionally, Facebook was the biggest initial public offering (IPO) this year, but Malaysia took the second and third largest IPO spots with the listing of Felda Global Venture Holdings Bhd and Integrated Healthcare Bhd,” he elaborated.
“Also, if you look at the Nielsen Consumer Confidence Index, Malaysia has reached its highest level in the past six years.
“This important because 70 per cent of our GDP is domestic consumption, followed by 20 per cent of investments, and the remainder in net trade exports and imports. So if domestic consumption is high, this will fuel our economy’s growth.”
Another positive indicator, Idris underscored, was the ease of doing business in Malaysia by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation which saw the country moving up five notches to 18 this year.
All these was indicative of the country’s progress and would only serve to fuel the economy going forward, he noted.
“As you know, we look at three measures of success. The first is on gross national income. Last year, we placed a target of RM797 billion for GNI. In reality, we have exceeded the target and instead reached RM830 billion – surpassing expectations by four per cent,” Idris said.
“We wanted a lot of investments to come into the country, aiming for a total target of RM26 billion of private investments last year. Instead, we surpassed the target and achieved RM94 billion in private investments. This is actually the highest we had over the past 10 years.
“However, we did not reach our job targets, only achieving 95 per cent. Nonetheless, I think all the key performance indicators combines showed that we did very well.”
As such, Idris affirmed that GTP 2.0, which will run from 2013 to 2015, will showcase new initiatives aimed at improving the lives and livelihoods of Malaysians, including Sarawakians.
Pemandu will review all public feedback and incorporate them into the finalised GTP 2.0 which will be unveiled later this year as part of the government’s ongoing commitment in ensuring that the GTP accurately reflected what the rakyat really wanted.
<< Previous Entry - Next Entry >>
Advertisement
