GOVT MINDFUL OF NEW GLOBAL RECESSION FEAR, SAYS PM NAJIB

PETALING JAYA (Bernama) - The Government is mindful of the fear
over the new global recession, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Friday.

"As you all know, Wall Street has been hit. So, we need to watch this very
carefully," he told a national conference themed "Making A High Income Nation, A
Reality," here Friday.

In the pursuit of the country's long national agenda towards Vision 2020,
it needs a benign external environment for the government and the people to
thrive and succeed, added Najib, who is also Finance Minister.

Najib said he introduced the Government Transformation Programme and the
Economic Transformation Programme to create an environment in Malaysia where
business could develop and thrive and allow sustainable economic growth that
would benefit all Malaysians.

"While many western nations struggled to drag themselves out of recession
and global experts continue to predict "gloom and doom" over the past two years,
our economy has grown very significantly," he said.

He said Malaysia's gross domestic product had increased by more than seven
per cent and foreign direct investment in the first half of this year clinched
US$7 billion, up 76 per cent in the same period last year, which was itself a
record-breaking year.

Najib said Bursa Malaysia has hit a record high six times between January
and September, a performance that is the envy of markets around the world.

"Companies listed on the exchange have a total market capitalisation of more
than US$44 billion, up 15 per cent in 12 months," he added.