KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — As the political instability in the country has been addressed, and the vaccination rate is rising, the main focus now is to kick-start the economy and reopen more sectors to ensure businesses especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can be sustained, an economist said.
Assoc Prof Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff of Putra Business School said the current practices and initiatives of giving a handout or one-off payment to SMEs might not be working anymore as businesses need to generate their own income in order to survive.
“We need to make sure that there is liquidity in the market and businesses are able to generate revenue to sustain their workers and to have economic multiplier when doing the transactions.
“This can only be achieved by opening up more economic sectors as soon as possible, and allowing people to travel between the states and districts, but of course must be subject to the standard operating procedures (of COVID-19),” he said on Bernama TV’s Mid-day Update programme, today.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Razman noted that local investors’ confidence may have been restored as the political instability in the country eased with the appointment of the new prime minister.
“We can see some indications if you look at the stock exchange and the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI for the past two days where it had appreciated above the 1,500 level,” he added.
He said, however, foreign investors might still adopt a wait-and-see attitude as they want to know what the government’s cabinet composition will look like.
“They might also want to know what is going to be presented in Parliament next month for the 12th Malaysian Plan, as well as Budget 2022 which is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament in October,” said Ahmed Razman.
