THE Malaysian economy can still grow this year and the government's expectation is realistic, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.He did not say what would be the revised economic expansion target that would be announced on March 10.
"We are still realistic (about positive economic growth) depending on how we apply ourselves to this task," Abdullah told industry captains at a dialogue session organised by the KL Business Club in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The government had targeted to grow the economy by 3.5 per cent this year. However, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is set to announce a revised figure on March 10, the same day he will announce the second stimulus package.
Abdullah was also asked about the trend of protectionism where countries impose measures to protect local businesses, often at the expense of other nations."This is a symptom of failure of World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks.
That is why countries want to go on their own," he said. As countries cannot rely on the WTO, smaller groups of nations like Asean, for example, will be more important. Groupings like Asean will then engage with similar groupings like the European Union to boost trade.