PUTRAJAYA: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad admitted that the country's economy was still at a worrying level.
He said, until now the unity government had yet to resolve the matter, especially regarding the issue of high cost of living faced by the people.
"If you say chicken is expensive you don't have to eat chicken, that is not a good solution," he said in a press conference after the Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Forum, "Building Bumiputera Economic Resilience and Future Challenges" at the Perdana Leadership Foundation, today.
When asked about the efforts the government should take to overcome the issue, Dr Mahathir said corruption must be fully dealt with so as to provide a solution to the high cost of living.
Dr Mahathir said the cost of living in Malaysia was increasing due to rampant corruption.
He said when businesses were infused with elements of corruption, it would cause the prices of goods to become more expensive.
"Many things are cheap but when there is corruption, the prices increase, resulting in rising living costs.
Overall, Dr Mahathir said Malaysia was able to weather the global economic slowdown this year due to the country's strong and stable export potential.
He believed Malaysia would survive because there were goods that are in high demand from abroad including the glove industry and manufacturing components.
"Our export market is indeed successful but the economic situation in the country and the cost of living is still high and it shows no signs of recovery.
"Basically, certain groups including the poor still don't get enough food, they do not have jobs and they don't believe that our economy is growing rapidly," he said.