PUTRAJAYA: The National Recovery Council (NRC) is in the midst of studying the possibility of reopening Malaysia's international borders and will be making a recommendation to the Prime Minister soon.
Its chair Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the high-impact recommendations would be scrutinised by the council and relevant ministers this week.
"We have gathered the responses on opening the borders and they are being studied by the ministers who are affected.
"We would be making a decision on whether to allow Malaysians and international travellers who are fully vaccinated to travel in and out of the country this week itself," he said at the council's meeting here today.
He said this was mainly to enable businessmen, tourists and other travellers who have been inoculated to come into the country and contribute to the economy.
It is however understood that the final decision was in the hands of the prime minister.
Muhyiddin said the latest that interstate travel could resume would be by mid-October.
He added that it could also be lifted in early October earlier than scheduled.
Muhyiddin said the decision was made based on the drop in the number of ICU admissions nationwide and increased vaccination rates that was slated to reach 90 per cent of the adult population soon.
The former prime minister, who chaired the NRC meeting today, said moving forward, the council would focus on the recovery of the country as a whole involving various sectors and affected groups.
The sectors include those that needed to be given priority in the recovery process, especially the economic activities that contribute the most to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and the sectors that provide the most jobs and the sectors most affected by the pandemic.
This also includes assistance that can be provided to businesses ranging from micro, small and medium entrepreneurs.
The problem of post-pandemic poverty among urban and rural populations; and vulnerable groups and forms of assistance that can be provided would also be a key focus.
Present were Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin and Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali.