KUALA LUMPUR: The government will leverage on Malaysia’s strong economic fundamentals to prosper and return the country to its glory days within the first three years of administration, despite domestic and external challenges.
The Ministry of Finance’s Economic Outlook 2019 said in consonance with the mid-term review of the 11th Malaysia Plan, the immediate focus was on restoring trust in the government, creating an entrepreneurial state and prospering the people.
In restoring trust, the government realised that it had a clean slate to write a new chapter in the management of the country.
“Efforts will be intensified to overcome the trust deficit in the government among the people, professionals, private and the public,” the report said.
The immediate focus will be on addressing all policies and structural issues that have hindered the nation from progressing further. The principles of competency, accountability and transparency (CAT) will be adopted across all levels of the government.
The report said the 2019 Budget would introduce several measures to strengthen governance, enhance revenue base, improve fiscal management and government procurement as well as realign the roles of government-linked companies (GLCs).
Ministries and agencies will be streamlined to avoid duplication of roles and functions.
The Malaysia Incorporated Policy will be reintroduced as part of efforts to promote an entrepreneurial state.
The report said this was in line with the government’s new approach to stimulating entrepreneurship and encourage private sector participation in economic activities and overall development.
“The policy will create an atmosphere of trust and accessibility between people, professionals, private and public to operate within the concept of a Malaysian company.”
It added that the policy was expected to jump-start a new version of the public private partnership (PPP) in promoting investment and entrepreneurship in the country.
In this aspect, the land swap approach under PPP will be revised whereby it will be decoupled from land development. Both the sale of the land and land development will be done on an open tender basis.
At the same time, the government will reduce its involvement in business and allow the private sector to drive economic growth.
The government is committed to ensuring effective implementation of the open tender process, public investment and renegotiation of mega infrastructure projects.
“Malaysia’s economy will be premised along the highest level of technology and efficiency where firms, especially SMEs, need to stop from being too complacent and chasing over short-term profits as well as holding off investments,” the report said.
Future economic growth will be driven by the high-tech sectors such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing and Big Data analytics (BDA), underlining the potential of the digital economy in ensuring Malaysia’s transition to a developed and inclusive nation.
Meanwhile, the 2019 Budget will adopt a two-pronged approach in improving the well-being of Malaysians by easing their burden as well as enhancing income opportunities.
With regard to the rising cost of living, the budget will emphasise on efforts to raise the disposable income of the people, especially B40 and M40 households.
In 2018, the government allocated RM6.8 billion for cost of living aid which has benefitted 7.2 million households. This, will be continued in 2019 with a more targeted approach.
Other efforts to increase income include cross-skilling, reskilling, upskilling and expert-skilling the existing workforce.