GOVT MONITORING EFFECTIVENESS OF STIMULUS PACKAGE

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- The Government is monitoring effectiveness
of the RM7 billion (US$2 billion) stimulus package, Deputy Finance Minister Kong
Cho Ha said Friday.

He said that if the situation warranted, the government is prepared to come
up with another new economic package to support domestic demand.

"The RM7 billion package will be fully disbursed in the first quarter of
this year. If there is a need, we are prepared to come up with another stimulus
package," he told reporters after launching "The Busy Weekly", the first Chinese
language economic and investment weekly newspaper by KTS Holdings Sdn Bhd, which
also owns Oriental Daily News.

Asked whether the overnight policy rate (OPR) will be lowered further, Kong
said the Bank Negara (Central Bank) would make the right decision at the
appropriate time.

The central bank last cut the OPR to 3.25 percent from 3.50 percent at its
monetary policy meeting on Nov 24 last year.

The Busy Weekly, which hit the market on Jan 5, has sold over 20,000 copies
of the first two issues in the Klang Valley (an area comprising Kuala Lumpur and
its suburbs, and adjoining cities and towns in the state of Selangor), southern
city of Johor Baharu, northern cities of Ipoh and Penang, Kuching and Kota
Kinabalu, capital of East Malaysia states of Sarawak and Sabah respectively.

Its editor-in-chief Ko Keak Hock said the newspaper will carry news on
corporate and macro economics, knowledge on wealth management, personal
financial planning and market focus on investment stocks and foreign exchange.

He said it covers corporate news, stocks and share market, unit trusts,
insurance, banking, financial planning, branding, corporate figure profile,
management, career development, political economics, property zone, lifestyle
and special columns.

The paper is targeting managing directors, chief executive officers,
directors and general managers, retail investors, insurance agents, financial
planners, unit trust agents, SMIs/SMEs, remisiers, corporate figures and the
public who like to gain knowledge on investments.
-- BERNAMA