Be cautious on economic growth

Be cautious on economic growth

(Part of the speech by Dr Tan Seng Giaw's speech at the DAP Ft Convention on 3.10.10)

Let Malaysians be cautious on reports of economic performance and growth in the country. We would like the Government to reflect the true situation.

Bank Negara predicts that 2010 economic growth is 4.5% to 5.5%. The Prime Minister and Finance Minister 1, Datuk Sri Najib Tun Razak repeatedly says that economic growth in 2011 will be 6% or higher.

According to Najib, his Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) with 131 major projects, including the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) can help economic growth by 0.6 to 0.7%.

By 2020, ETP is projected to attract RM1.4 trillion investments, more than 80% of which will be from the private sector. In the same period, China hopes to get US$3.4 trillion investments for infrastructure.

Despite these forecasts, Malaysians should be cautious in their assessment. Now, Malaysia’s per capita incomes are US8,000 compared with US$ for Singapore. BY 2020, the Prime Minister intends to increase the per capita incomes from middle income to high income.

At peak time, Malaysia’s local and foreign investments were 37% GDP. Now, it is 10% GDP. How will ETP attract these investments?

We propose that the Government create conducive atmosphere for economic growth and investments by dealing with political, economic and social issues such as racial and religious harmony, projecting truly open and liberal economic policy.

Dr Tan Seng Giaw