Najib talking to representatives of IOSCO
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia must realign with the world economy to open up lasting opportunities and ensure a more sustainable growth, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
"This means growth with employment, not just profits and with a better standard of living, and a healthier attitude to environmental as well as financial risk.
"It is a challenge not only for emerging markets, but advanced economies," he said in his address at the International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO) board meeting here.
Najib, who is Finance Minister, said markets must play their part in the realignment and work as enablers for the allocation of capital and as a platform for the creation and transfer of wealth.
"Markets are a powerful tool to promote sustainable and inclusive growth in the real economy and as policy makers, we must capitalise on that promise," he said.
At the same time, the global financial services must strive to regain the public's trust and confidence that was badly affected during the global financial crisis, he said.
"There must be a concerted effort to reinforce integrity in the international financial system, to build a strong culture of ethics and good governance that people, businesses and government expect," he said.
Malaysia, he added, had built a mature and diverse capital market worth some USD812bil while the country's bond market was ranked the third largest in Asia.
"Malaysia is home to the largest unit trust industry with the highest number of listed companies in South East Asia," he noted.
He said in recognising the importance of Islamic finance in meeting the demand for syariah-based investment, the government had established an Islamic capital market worth USD452bil, the biggest issuer of sukuk in the world.
"Our efforts to align the domestic regulatory framework to international standards have been widely acknowledged.
"In the recent Financial Sector Assessment Programme, Malaysia was judged to have very high level of implementation with IOSCO objectives and principles. We are consistently ranked fourth in the world for investors protection by the World Bank," he said.
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