M'SIAN GOVT MAY SELL SOME OF FINANCE MINISTRY FIRMS TO BOOST PRIVATE INVESTMENT

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian government plans to transfer
some of the Ministry of Finance Inc owned companies to private companies in
order to boost private sector investment.

Second Finance Minister, Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, said the government may
transfer the companies either through direct transfer or listing in the stock
market.

In a direct transfer, the government may sell the share owned by the
ministry in the company to the private sector.

He, however, added that the government did not have the mechanism for such
an initiative yet.

"Our objective now is to enhance the size of the market. That means we have
to have new initial public stock offering. We are looking at that possibility
and it is now being studied by the ministry," he told reporters here Friday.

Ahmad Husni said the government has identified 15-17 companies owned by the
ministry to be listed on Bursa Malaysia (the Malaysia stock exchange) or
privatised.

The listing and privatisation exercises are believed to be among measures
taken by the ministry to ensure that the country's economy grows at the targeted
five per cent this year.

On economic growth this year, Ahmad Husni said Malaysia was confident of
achieving a five per cent growth this year.

Ahmad Husni said a positive gross domestic product growth was expected for
the last quarter of 2009 after three consecutive quarters of contraction during
the year.

He said the projection was based on improvement in export and the two
stimulus packages which injected liquidity into the domestic economy.
-- BERNAMA


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