Najib: Transition to high-income economy the key priority

Written by Ellina Badri
Wednesday, 21 October 2009 10:28

KUALA LUMPUR: The road to economic recovery will be long and challenging, and the government’s key priority will be to transform the Malaysian economy into a high-income economy as it emerges from the global financial crisis, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said.

“For us to return to the situation where we stood prior to the crisis would be still a few years away. I believe the world that will emerge at the end of this tunnel will be quite different from the one we had upon entering it,” he said in a speech delivered by Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah here yesterday.

He was speaking in a special address at the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), organised by the Asian Development Bank, Bank Negara Malaysia and the European Commission.

Najib also said the country needed to work very hard to prepare itself for the new future.

He added Malaysia’s economic history showed its flexibility to adapt and transform in the face of challenges and opportunities.

He said in past crises, the country had responded quickly and implemented the necessary stabilisation measures and reforms to ensure that its transformation process did not experience a significant setback.

“The government is committed to ensuring the transition to a high-income economy. This remains a key priority and resources will be committed to achieve this objective, particularly as we emerge from the current economic crisis,” he said.

Meanwhile, Najib said there had never been a higher level of participation from developing and emerging economies in the affairs of the world than now.

He also said discussions had highlighted the many challenges which lay ahead for Asia even as it stood on the cusp of what had been dubbed as a period of its “economic Renaissance”, as it continued to gain greater prominence in the world economy.

“Rather than crippling us, the economic slowdown has spurred many national governments in charting new approaches and processes to ensure sustained economic growth. At the regional level, the crisis has also reinforced our commitment for closer economic coordination and financial integration,” he said.

“However, there is also an understanding that the very interdependence that has made our collective economies stronger has also created weaknesses that we must all manage together,” he added.

Najib also said the lessons learnt in the past year had led to a new Asian growth model aimed at achieving continued international and deeper regional integration and to further develop sustainable sources of indigenous growth at the national level.

The prime minister also highlighted the key changes Malaysia had made which enabled it to strike a balance in its development and model the best growth path for itself.

These included enhancing the role of the private sector, improving the efficiency of the public sector and strengthening and broadening the financial sector.


This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, October 21, 2009.