MALAYSIA EXPECTS 5-6 PCT GDP GROWTH NEXT YEAR

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 27 (Bernama) -- Second Finance Minister Ahmad Husni
Hanadzlah expects Malaysia to register a Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) of between five and six per cent next year.

He said the government has undertaken several new initiatives, including
National Key Result Areas (NKRA), the Tenth Malaysia Plan and National Key
Economic Areas (NKEA) to prop up the economy.

"Under the NKEA, seven projects are about to take off while another 12 are
in the final stage and this alone will bring investments amounting to RM151
billion (US$48.4 billion)," he told reporters at the World Capital Markets
Symposium here Monday.

Husni said the country's GDP growth in the second-half would be lower
compared with the first-half following the weak global economy.

He added Malaysia was expected to achieve a GDP of between six per cent and
seven per cent in the second-half compared with 9.5 per cent registered in the
first half of the year.

"The slow growth will continue into the first-half of next year but the
economy will bounce back in the second-half," he said.

Touching on Budget 2011, which would be tabled in Parliament on October 15,
Husni said the ministry was in the midst of fine-tuning the budget proposals as
some ministries had asked the Treasury to reconsider some of its earlier
proposals.

However, the additional requirements were small, he said adding that the
ministry aimed to lower the budget deficit for this year from the target figure
of 5.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, Husni said capital market integration within Asean would be
fully realised by 2015.

He said the framework for the integration was based on mutual recognition of
each other's markets in the region and was also different compared with the
European Union's framework which established new laws and regulations.

For example, players in the Thai's market can also operate in the Malaysian
market while Thai stocks can be sold in Malaysia and vice versa.

"Currently, we are still in discussion with Thailand and Indonesia," he
said.

In another development, Husni said Malaysia has recommended to the Islamic
Development Bank to establish a supra-sovereign wealth fund to tap sovereign
wealth for investment in the United States and Europe.

He said the fund should be channelled for investment in Asia or among
members of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) countries.

"The extraordinary profits could be utilised for investment in low risk
funds, basically for capacity building within low-income OIC countries such as
empowering human resource and education," he said.

-- BERNAMA



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