KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's previous and ongoing fundamental reforms and institutional improvements have accorded it with the capacity and dexterity to navigate through uncertain times, says Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor Datuk Muhammad Ibrahim.
Over the past few decades, he said Malaysia’s successful economic diversification strategies have made the economy more resilient to external shocks while strategic investments in infrastructure have increased the country’s growth potential.
"At the same time, ongoing investments to improve labour mobility and quality will equip the workforce with relevant skills and readiness to tap new opportunities in a fast-changing environment," the Governor said in a statement contained in the 2016 BNM Annual Report released here today.
He pointed out that the government had maintained and was committed to the course of fiscal reforms which should achieve its eighth consecutive year of fiscal consolidation in 2017.
The resilience of Malaysia’s economy too, he added, was further supported by continued efforts to strengthen the domestic financial and banking system.
"It is imperative that we remain disciplined in pursuing the required reforms to preserve our resilience while searching for new sources of growth.
"Malaysia’s economy should be further diversified and deepened to encourage private investments, allowing the public sector to shift resources to other priorities, especially infrastructure," he said.
Muhammad said new and diversified sources of revenue was also required to fund new infrastructure that could advance Malaysia’s transition towards becoming a high value-added, high-income nation.
Malaysia must create a competitive niche in the rapidly evolving new economy and the bank, he added, was playing its role by providing a conducive regulatory environment that harnessed the potential of financial technology to modernise, deepen and inject competition in domestic financial and funding markets.
In his statement, Muhammad paid tribute to former Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz, saying that the bank owed a deep debt of gratitude for her vast and invaluable contributions in alleviating the organisation to new heights and setting it on a sure and strong footing to deliver its mandates.
Despite testing times, he said the foundation laid have accorded the stability and continuity in the bank's policies.-- BERNAMA