KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today laid out his plans and steps to rebuild and position Malaysia among the world's 30 largest economies in less than 10 years when he unveiled the country's economic framework for the decade.
Dubbed as the "Madani Economy: Empowering the People", Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister described it as a new economic framework to uphold and elevate the status and position of the country.
The main focus of the framework, he said, is the restructuring of the country's economy to make Malaysia an economic leader in Asia which spillover will help improve the quality of the livelihood and welfare of the people.
"This is a comprehensive and complex framework that will help the country to face long-term challenges as well as transforming the nation into an attractive and competitive destination among investors.
"The framework will also roll out plans to address issues that need to be resolved immediately, such as the rise in the cost of living from continuing to affect the lives of people.
"The Madani Economy: Empowering the People will be the foundation for several other policies that will be announced later, including the National Energy Transition Roadmap and the mid-term review of the 12th Malaysia Plan," Anwar said in his speech at the launching ceremony of the framework here today.
Present were Cabinet members as well as Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Zuki Ali.
Apart from positioning Malaysia as one of the top 30 major economies around the globe, Anwar said the framework also outlined six other benchmarks to be achieved by the country in less than 10 years.
Other benchmarks include placing the country in the top 12 of the Global Competitiveness Index, increasing participation among women in the country's workforce to 60 per cent, placing the country in the top 25 nations in the world in the Corruption Perception Index, boosting the nation's fiscal strength with fiscal deficit of three per cent or lower and positioning Malaysia in the top 25 of the Human Development Index.
Among the initiatives to support the government to achieve the benchmark, he said, include developing Klang Valley into one of Asia's major city centres and an Asean regional hub for prominent companies.
In his speech, Anwar stressed the importance for the country to develop greater economic integration with neigbouring countries in the wake of the global supply chain disruption to meet the target set in the framework.
"We need to create highly competitive local companies to penetrate the Asean market.
"In addition, our efforts must go beyond the free trade agreements. As an example, trade diplomacy and strategic arrangements can expand bilateral and multilateral market integration.
"It can also facilitate the movement of goods, capital and human capital, as well as the sharing of technologies with neighbouring countries," he said.
At the same event, Anwar also announced several goodies following the launching of the framework.
Among them included RM100 in e-Tunai credit to all adults in the country earning RM100,000 and below annually. The aid costing the government RM1 billion, said Anwar, is expected to benefit 10 million people in the B40 and M40 income category.
Anwar also announced special aid to recognise the contribution of civil servants and pensioners towards the development of the country's economic growth. He said the government will be disbursing RM300 in the special aid, dubbed as the Bantuan Khas Perhargaan to civil servants of Grade 56 and below.
He also announced a similar aid of RM200 to various categories of government pensioners, currently retirees including pension recipients issued under the pension law, Employee Provident Fund (EPF) contributors who retire from public service, as well as pensionable and non-pensionable veterans.
"I have instructed the Chief Secretary to the Government to make the payment of the special aid in two weeks time," he said, adding that the aid reflected the federal administration's commitment to restructure the salary of civil servants according to the financial capability of the government.
To enable the people to own homes, Anwar said the government also agreed to increase the Housing Credit Guarantee Scheme to RM5 billion.
"The government is aware of the predicament faced by the people who find it hard to own a house because they are unable to place a deposit.
"The government, therefore, has improved the loan scheme under the Syarikat Jaminan Kredit Perumahan Bhd (SJKP) by increasing the financing guarantees to 120 per cent of the price of the house worth up to RM300,000," he said.
Beginning today, Anwar said all ministries will gradually announce new initiatives to improve the welfare and livelihood of the people under the newly-launched framework.
"All ministries, beginning today, will announce new and more specific initiatives to strengthen this framework.
"This Monday, there will be some announcement from the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi followed by other ministers the next day.
"At the same time, I would like to stress here that the unity government will continue to pay serious attention towards helping the rakyat face global challenges by empowering the economy of the country," he said.