The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin expects the country's economic position to improve this year, in line with the government's actions and the recovery of economic activity and world trade despite the severe challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to him, Malaysia is on the right track in economic planning and management towards stronger and sustainable growth and is beginning to show a positive impact.
"Our plans have already seen the effects. One, maybe Covid-19 isn’t finished but our economy is already showing signs of improvement. Our exports increased, our imports increased and the number of employees we hired reached 150,000, more than the proposed 120,000 people.
The projections of international bodies, our experts and Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), we will see growth of 6.5 to 7.0% this year. There will be 4 to 7 months to see the matter achieved, "he said yesterday as reported by Bernama.
Muhyiddin added that the government had sought to balance between the importance of public health and the need for economic growth during the third Movement Control Order (PKP 3.0), similar to PKP 2.0 where the impact on growth was expected to be less severe as most economic sectors were still allowed to operate.
"We have started early, last year also started. Our move to make PKP does not cover everything because we are thinking ahead.
"If it's about today, I really want to close everything. But we take care of the lives, the future of the people, their income, their work, ”he explained.
Muhyiddin also commented on the country's huge expenditure during the Covid-19 pandemic challenge.
"Sometimes the people can easily forget but that is one of the biggest packages in the history of the country, it does not stop there, we will work and do what is right," he said.
According to him, the implementation of vaccination through the National Covid-19 Immunization Program will boost sentiment and contribute towards the recovery of economic activity.
"Before the end of this year, we target the people to be vaccinated. The target is to reach 80% group immunity.
"We hope that if there is protection, the economy recovers, our hope is that next year will be better," said Muhyiddin.
Meanwhile, commenting on the tourism sector which was badly affected by the pandemic, he expected the country's tourism industry to take 3 to 4 years to recover and in the meantime, there were government -driven initiatives.
“This sector is most affected because it is not allowed to cross the country and tourists cannot come.
“Many hotels are closed, home stays have to stop doing nothing. Taxis and buses carrying tourists are stranded, that's why I instructed the Ministry of Finance to help because there are purchases such as taxis that do not use bank loans but leasing companies that do not have a moratorium, ”he said.
Muhyiddin explained that the government had started negotiations for the entry of Chinese and ASEAN foreign tourists through the green route when the situation allowed and also helped the creative industry to boost the tourism industry.
