M`SIA WILL CONTINUE TO LIBERALISE SERVICES SECTOR

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- Malaysia will not hesitate to liberalise
further the services sector when it is timely to do so, said Second Finance
Minister Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah.

He said the government has consistently placed prudent levels of rules and
regulations to ensure orderly growth and timely development.

"We are aware that we need to accelerate the speed of change and this we
have demonstrated in the last few major announcements as regards to the
liberalisation of the services sector," he said at the special luncheon in
conjunction with World Capital Markets Symposium here Tuesday.

Ahmad Husni said Malaysia aimed to have the services sector contribute 60
percent of the country's gross domestic product by the end of the Third
Industrial Plan (2006-2020).

"This ambition will require the combination of having the various existing
industry players in the sector to grow exponentially as well as getting new
entrants into the market," he said.

Ahmad Husni said the sharp decline, especially in foreign direct investments
in 1997-1998, has led to a change in the Malaysian policy mindset.

"After three decades of maintaining consistently high national savings rate,
we thought it was timely to promote domestic consumption in order to reduce our
reliance on export markets for growth," he said.

Ahmad Husni said the policy shift to promote domestic consumption did not
mean the country has abandoned the encouragement on saving.

Instead, he said, through the calibration and fine-tuning of available
fiscal and monetary tools, Malaysia sought to achieve an efficient equilibrium
between having an optimal level of savings and gaining greater consumer
spending.
-- BERNAMA