PM NAJIB:TOTAL OF US$1.97 BILLION FROM FIRST STIMULUS PACKAGE DISBURSED

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Najib Tun
Razak told the Lower House of Parliament Monday that almost a hundred percent or
RM6.95 billion (US$1.97 billion) from the first stimulus package allocation had
been disbursed.

He said that of this total, RM4.02 billion (US$1.13 billion) or 57.9 percent
involving 43,681 projects had been offered to successful contractors while the
remainder was in the process of being done.

Until June 5, Najib who is also the Finance Minister, said a total of RM1.4
billion (US$ 396.9 million) had been spent in completing 10,979 projects.

"This includes small projects such as upgrading and repairing roads in rural
areas, bridges, schools and hospitals costing RM500 million (US$141.7 million),"
he said.

He said this in reply to an oral question from Tengku Azlan Ibni Almarhum
Sultan Abu Bakar, a MP on whether the
stimulus package had reached the right target, that is helping the people, in
particular those in the rural areas.

At the same time, the public infrastructure maintainence programme (PIA) and
the basic infrastructure project (PIAS) worth RM592 million (US$167.8 million)
had also been implemented, said the Prime Minister.

He said, the people friendly housing projects, costing RM200 million
(US$56.7 million) to build 2,664 units of homes had been urgently implemented.

"The implementation of this project had brought about a positive impact on
the construction sector activity for the first quarter of 2009, where it posted
a growth of 0.6 percent," said Najib.

"The implementation of the said project had provided employment and income
for small contractors,especially those in the rural areas," he added.

For the second economic stimulus package, a total of 7,811 projects worth
RM4.2 billion (US$ 1.19 million) had been awarded until June 5, Najib disclosed.

Of this total, RM1.2 billion (US$339.4 million) had been spent in completing
453 projects, he said.

This also involved the PIA programme and PIAS worth RM173 million (US$49
million), involving 2,686 projects focused on Sabah and Sarawak, both East
Malaysia states.

"This has directly helped enhance economic activity as well as the quality
of life for the people in the rural areas, especialy in Sabah and Sarawak," he
said.

According to Najib, the government has also increased the allocation of
RM674 million (US$191 million) as subsidy to avoid an increase in prices of
daily food products such as sugar,bread and flour.

"This has helped reduce the inflation rate to three percent in April this
year, compared to the 8.5 percent July and August of 2008," he said.

Among others, Najib said based on the global economic situation, the
government expects the economic environment for this year to be more dificult
and challenging.

Najib had earlier revised the country's gross domestic product (GDP)for this
year to be between a negative four to five percent from the negative one percent
to positive one percent.

The first economic stimulus package of RM7 billion (US$1.98 billion) was
announced on November 4 last year and the second amounting to RM60 billion
(US$17 billion) on March 10 this year.

--BERNAMA