World Bank optimistic on Malaysia's economy
VIGOROUS: Investment boom, domestic demand will keep growth momentum going
THE World Bank is upbeat about Malaysia's growth momentum, projecting growth in the five per cent clip in 2012 as well as the next two years.
"We expect to see the momentum from the domestic demand, especially an investment boom, since the fourth quarter of last year, to be sustained."
Senior economist for Malaysia Dr Frederico Gil Sander said domestic demand helped Malaysia weather a weak global environment and will likely grow by 5.1 per cent this year, five per cent next year and 5.1 per cent in 2014.
It is the second revision for the Malaysian economy this year, after April where it announced its outlook at 4.6 per cent, before it revised it to 4.8 per cent in early October.
The World Bank noted that the Malaysian economy maintained a vigorous pace in the first nine months of 2012 with a 5.3 per cent growth, despite external headwinds and exceeded the World Bank's earlier estimate of 4.4 per cent.
"Many of the investment projects that were launched have a long gestation period. Unless there is another external shock, there are no reasons for these projects to stop," he said in an interview.
The investment growth today will help prepare Malaysia well in terms of its future exports portfolio, he added.
Investment from both public and private sources were key drivers of growth in 2012. Gross fixed capital formation surged in the first three quarters of 2012, taking the share of investment in GDP to the highest level since 1997 - mostly in oil and gas, real estate and infrastructure.
Private and public consumption also remained robust, with private spending propped by cash transfers, a tight job market and higher civil service wages.
Sander said external trade would start to see an improvement, albeit "subdued" in the last few quarters of 2013.
This was because tail risks have reduced greatly in Europe which has been swamped with sovereign debt issues since the last crisis.
Meanwhile, Sander who also led a research report "Unlocking Women's Potential" said Malaysia, despite its impressive growth, faced significant challenges to fully leverage women's talent as at least half a million women are "absent" from the labour market.
The women participation rate remains low at 47.9 per cent in 2011.
Minister in the PM's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop who launched the report, said the government is working towards improving the participation rate.
Apart from the Part Time Regulation 2010 to enable them to have part-time working arrangements, qualified and affordable child care centres for working mothers are being set up apart from customised training to enable women to re-enter the workforce.
"With all these measures in place, our target is to increase the participation rate to 55 per cent or an additional 686,000 females by 2015," he said, adding that incentives will be extended to the private sector.
Significant achievements have been made in the public sector, where more than 30 per cent of women are present in decision-making positions.
A study showed that Malaysia could experience a 23 per cent increase in output per capita if more women joined the labour makret or become entrepreneurs.
Read more: World Bank optimistic on Malaysia's economy http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/rupa29/Article/#ixzz2Df5ehEZl
Source: Business News
Date : 30 Nov 2012
Today's Pick (30/11/12/209/904)
No comments:
Post a Comment