KUALA LUMPUR: The advisory committee for the finance ministry has begun work on four focus areas to create a conducive economic environment and attract more foreign direct investments.
Co-chair secretariat Nurul Izzah Anwar said these areas encompass government revenue and expenditure, subsidy and social protection, government-linked companies (GLCs), and national debt.
"To organize the work more efficiently, we have set up four task forces for each focus area. In addition, the advisors have met with the prime minister to set up our committee's direction and expectations.
"Our works are in line with the government's agenda to provide a more conducive environment and its plans to attract foreign direct investment as well as domestic direct investment," she said at the media briefing by the Advisory Committee to the Finance Minister (ACFIN).
Elaborating on the four focus areas, Nurul Izzah said the first focus area on the government revenue would include increasing the nation's revenue base and managing operating expenditure, subsidies and social protection.
On subsidies and social protection, Nurul Izzah said the committee would focus on reviewing and restructuring existing subsidies while providing more holistic social protection.
"The third focus area is on the review to determine the relevance of GLCs in the current context and consolidate them where appropriate.
"This includes all government-linked investment companies (GLICs), public-listed GLCs and statutory bodies.
"And, of course, the fourth is our national debt, especially in good governance. So it's been slightly over a month, but we have been kept busy," she said.
Nurul Izzah said the advisory committee acknowledges that various parties, including the government, have undertaken many studies and reviews previously involving the four focus areas.
"We endeavour to validate the previous studies and reviews and provide a fresh perspective where appropriate.
"The final report of the advisory committee to the finance minister will be classified as Official Secrets under the Official Secrets Act 1972," she said.
Co-heads to the secretariat Khairil Anar Ramli said the outcome would be the prerogative of prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, as the finance minister, to decide in his wisdom what is to be made public and how.
Khairil said it is also his prerogative whether to accept the committee's input and to decide the next appropriate course of action.
"I would like to reiterate today that the advisory committee's role is primarily to advise the finance minister under the direction of the chairman Tan Sri Mohd Hassan Marican and other members with a fresh perspective of things," he said.
Khairil said the advisory committee must be fixed based on a particular timeline.
"This is not a rush job. The issues are structural, and there are legacies in nature.
"In the meantime, we hope for your patience and cooperation. Moving forward, we will provide more updates when substantive progress activity," he added.
Ends