ECONOMISTS: MALAYSIAN PM NAJIB GOT IT RIGHT

KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 (Bernama) -- Economists have given Prime Minister
Najib Tun Razak full marks for putting the Malaysian economy on "full
throttle" mode.

Dr Yeah Kim Leng, Group Chief Economist of RAM Holdings, acknowledged that
Malaysia’s quick economic recovery has been due to Najib’s stimulus plan.

"When Prime Minister Najib took office, it was at the height of the global
financial crisis. What we see here is that the PM has passed the most critical
challenge of ensuring that we can withstand the synchronised global recession.

"The policies that are implemented have mitigated the effects of the global
financial crisis to the extent that Malaysia did not suffer a hard landing,” he
said.

The Malaysian economy recorded a growth of 10.1 per cent in the first
quarter
of 2010, its highest quarterly growth in 10 years. The last time Malaysia
charted quarterly growth as high was in 2000 when it hit 11.7 per cent.

Dr Yeah attributed the record quarterly performance to Najib's sound
policies and in particular, the second stimulus package which had helped to
boost confidence and reduce job losses.

He said the prime minister had steered Malaysia through a rough course and
"that phase has passed".

"Malaysia’s recovery is stronger than projected by market analysts. We
recovered in the fourth quarter of last year and the economy expanded by 4.5 per
cent," he pointed out.

"Of course, the sharp annual growth is also because the economy contracted
last year. So when you compare year-on-year, we have a cyclical rebound," he
explained.

In view of the prime minister's foresight, Dr Yeah said Malaysia was
well-positioned towards the next economic boom.

Equally upbeat is France’s Sorbonne-trained economist Datuk Dr Norraesah
Mohamad, who said the prime minister’s "quick response" to jumpstart the economy
was working according to plan.

According to her, one strong reason for the recovery was the RM70 billion
stimulus package injected into the economy last year and was still filtering its
way down.

Meanwhile, Najib has indicated that the GDP growth meant more and better
jobs for Malaysians.

Bank Negara (central bank) Malaysia governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz announced
an
increase in interest rate to counter any spike in inflation following the high
growth.

The ringgit also ended higher against the US dollar on Thursday on the back
of the country's strong gross domestic product (GDP) data for the first quarter
this year. The local currency was traded at 3.1950/1000 yesterday compared with
3.2030/2070 on Wednesday.

A dealer said the ringgit's strength hinged on the inflow of funds into
the
equity markets.

"The ringgit will be traded between 3.18 and 3.17 against the greenback
soon," he said.

Extolling the benefits of a strong ringgit, ex-Cabinet Minister and MP for
Johor Baharu Shahrir Samad said that "a stronger ringgit will
encourage the import of capital goods which will contribute to innovation and
automation of industries in the country."

"It will also reduce the government’s subsidy bill since petrol, sugar and
flour, as the main subsidised products, are all denominated in US dollars. With
a reduction in subsidies, the government’s operational expenditure and its
deficit will also be reduced,” he added.

-- BERNAMA