MALAYSIA is a blessed country in terms of the economy. Despite external uncertainties, our economic fundamentals remain strong enough to maintain a respectable growth rate of 4.5% to 5% this year.
This is not just the luck of a resource-rich country. Our central economic agencies, ie the Finance Ministry, the Economic Planning Unit and Bank Negara Malaysia, must be commended for steering the economy through challenging times, especially after the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis. The reforms that they initiated 20 years ago have proved useful in establishing the economy’s resilience to external shocks.