KUALA LUMPUR: Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz has reassured the public that Malaysia will not implement a total lockdown on the economy, even if the worst case scenario comes true.
Instead, he said the government will continue to focus on enforcing more stringent standard operating procedures (SOPs), should the number of Covid-19 cases remain high in the country.
"Based on the current model, we believe the number of cases will go down.
"Assuming the worst case scenario (comes true), it will not be a total lockdown on the economy, we will continue to focus on more stringent SOP," he said in an interview with CNBC today.
Tengku Zafrul was responding to a question on whether the government would shut down certain sectors, or which sectors would be the priority for closure, if the Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0) has to be extended, or the Covid-19 vaccine rollout is not as smooth as anticipated.
He said if the number of cases continues to rise, core issues such as adherence to and enforcement of SOPs should be addressed.
Malaysia recorded 4,094 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, taking the country's infection tally to 198,208 cases.
Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul dismissed the notion that the recent strengthening of the ringgit against the US dollar will impact export performance.
"Yes, the ringgit has strengthened against the US dollar and other currencies, but as global trade is forecast to grow about eight per cent in 2021 versus 2020, Malaysia stands to benefit from that.
"And I believe the ringgit performance would not have the adverse impact on exports," he said. - BERNAMA