M'SIA'S ECONOMIC SLOWDOWN IS SHORT-TERM

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian government believes the impact
of the global economic slowdown on the country is a short-term phenomenon, from
which it will take a year to recover,the Minister in the Prime Minister's
Department Amirsham A.Aziz said.

He also said the government was taking every measure to ensure the country's
economy stayed in good shape.

"Malaysia, the United States and every other country is working to ensure
that the economic slowdown will not be prolonged," he said at a briefing for
editors on, The Need For A Strategy Package For Higher Growth and Structural
Change, here Tuesday.

He said the whole world was in the same boat in trying to correct whatever
problems to ensure a quick return of public confidence and that of investors.

"This is also to ensure all countries have a speedy recovery in the world
economy which will benefit all.

"For Malaysia, the impact is probably not as bad as what we see in most
developed countries, which went into recession over the last two quarters or
even from the middle of last year.

"But we have been able to hang on to more positive territory for quite a
while," he said.

He attributed this to the domestic economy which was doing reasonably well.

"But what is becoming quite clear is the external sector or exports and the
production index which has seen a significant slowdown.

"So, we have essentially two areas to deal with," he said.

Amirsham said on the exports side, things looked quite grim in terms of
the manufacturing and production index.

"But there is nothing much we can do as the external demand has shrunk or
even dissappeared. But we believe and hope that this will be for just a year
with the more developed countries getting back on a buying spree," he said.

According to the Minister, what was important is for the country is ensure
that the external sector was kept viable over the next one year.

"If we don't do anything about the external sector and assist some of
the industries during this difficult time, then when things get back to normal
we will not be able to take advantage of the recovery," he said.

-- BERNAMA