BNM Governor: Reforms crucial to shield Malaysia from global shocks
During an exclusive interview with Bernama, he said Malaysia's foresight enabled the country to weather these shocks, such as the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic five years ago and impending challenges brought on by the United States' imposition of tariffs.
He said Malaysia's endeavour to push for social equity and fiscal sustainability has also reinforced the economy and elevated it to a position of strength. This includes preparing a future-ready workforce and enhancing social protection systems.
Malaysia's foresight in undertaking financial and economic reforms over the decades has helped strengthen the nation's economic fundamentals, enabling the country to weather uncertainties.
"Where we are today, the position of strength that we have, our ability to weather the pandemic and tariff developments, comes from our previous structural reforms. That is why we need to really continue on this path," he said.
Abdul Rasheed emphasised that the government's commitment to reform, particularly through rebuilding fiscal space, is important for the government to support the economy effectively during challenging periods.
He also commended the government's implementation of key national strategies, including the National Investment Aspirations (NIA), New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP), National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR) and National Semiconductor Strategy (NSS), as initiatives which attracted quality investments and generated high-paying job opportunities.
Key to this, he said, are policies to attract high-quality investments that increase economic complexity, create high-value jobs, extend domestic linkages, develop economic clusters and improve inclusivity, in line with the NIA.
As evidence, Malaysia has recorded a historic high of approved investments amounting to RM378.5 billion in 2024, he said.
"We want high-quality investments that create high-quality jobs, high-income jobs and have strong domestic linkages.
"That also creates complexity in the economy. This is what Malaysia needs, and the plans have all these elements," he said.
He added that it is also important for Malaysia to embark on the next phase of reforms.
Beyond creating new, higher-paying jobs, the central bank governor said Malaysia needs to create a more agile and future-ready workforce through labour market reforms, while enhancing the nation's social protection systems.
"The country is working hard to attract quality investments, which will in turn create high-quality and high-income jobs. Our workforce must be ready for this, and so will need to be re-skilled and up-skilled.
"The education system must evolve in tandem to better prepare Malaysians for an increasingly digital and knowledge-driven economy," he said.
On social security, Abdul Rasheed stressed the need to improve the design and targeting of assistance programmes to ensure inclusivity, maximise impact, and ensure that objectives are being met.
He highlighted that funding for these education, healthcare, social protection and other initiatives can be further strengthened by channelling savings from fiscal consolidation efforts, including rationalising subsidies.
He also said that the government remains committed to reforms, and at the same time, acknowledges the challenges faced by certain segments of the rakyat. These include facing ongoing cost-of-living pressure.
He said that targeted rollout of measures, alongside supportive measures, can help ease the transition.
On July 23, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced a cost-of-living relief package, which includes a one-off RM100 SARA cash aid, a reduction in the RON95 fuel price, toll hike postponements and an expanded Rahmah Madani Sales allocation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Pfizer reports strong Q2 revenue
NEW YORK, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced its second-quarter earnings on Tuesday, reporting a 10 percent year over year operational growth. The financial results posted by the New York-headquartered company represent revenue of 14.7 billion U.S. dollars or 0.51 dollars of earnings per share. In an upward revision of its full-year guidance, Pfizer said it now expects adjusted earnings per share for 2025 to range between 2.90 dollars and 3.10 dollars, compared to its previous forecast of 2.80 dollars to 3.00 dollars. The company maintained its annual revenue projection of 61 billion to 64 billion dollars, reflecting confidence in its underlying business performance. "Our business is performing well and I'm pleased with the progress we achieved in the second quarter," Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. Pfizer's strong performance came amid mounting policy pressures from the White House. U.S. President Donald Trump has recently sent letters to 17 pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, demanding that they cut prices on all existing medications for Medicaid patients to levels no higher than those in Europe. During Tuesday's earnings call, Bourla acknowledged that the company received the letter from the Trump administration. However, he declined to elaborate on the policy's specific impacts, although he emphasized that discussions with the administration have been "extremely productive." Pfizer's Q2 results were bolstered by rising sales in several key product categories. Its Vyndaqel line of cardiomyopathy treatments showed solid growth, and COVID-19-related products were major contributors.
New Straits Times
6 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Brexit's parallels with Trump tariffs tell a tale
In figuring out why the United States tariff shock hasn't sent the economy or financial world into a tailspin, Britain's exit from the European Union trade bloc provides something of a playbook — and without a particularly happy ending. Aside from vast differences in economic scale and global reach, the two episodes bear some comparison in how they upended years of deeply integrated free trade and possibly in how business, the economy at large and financial markets reacted. The 2016 Brexit referendum and Trump's tariffs this year were each widely billed as economic shocks that would send the financial world into paroxysms. They didn't, at least not at the outset. To be sure, both were followed by dramatic downward lurches in the two countries' currencies. But, to some extent, the steep drop in sterling after the referendum vote and the dollar's plunge on President Donald Trump's tariff plan this year helped offset some of the wider impact, at least on stock markets that are loaded with global firms with outsized foreign revenue. More broadly, however, the difficulty in isolating their immediate net impact means no "big bang" economic crisis unfolds to prove critics right, even if their enduring legacy turns out to be a slow burn of economic potential and lost output, often obscured by multiple other crosswinds. In Britain's case, the seismic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic distorted any attempt to easily assess Brexit when it actually happened. Tortuous negotiations with the EU meant the UK's departure eventually occurred on the eve of the health crisis in 2020 and the new trade rules did not come into force until a year later. But in the four years between the referendum surprise and the pandemic, the UK economy never entered a recession nor recorded a negative quarterly GDP print — confounding pro-EU supporters at the time and bolstering the Brexit lobby. Emerging from the twin hits, however, the economy has almost flatlined since. What's more, it's taken more than eight years for the pound's effective exchange rate to recover its pre-referendum levels. Few mainstream economists now doubt that Brexit has taken a serious toll on the UK economy. One academic study by a number of Bank of England economists earlier this year concluded that uncertainty following the referendum resulted in little change in goods exports and imports before the exit was finalised. But after the new rules hit, UK imports fell three per cent and overall exports fell 6.4 per cent, largely because of the 13 per cent hit in exports to the EU. While this slump seems relatively modest compared with the official forecasts of the longer-term hit, the pain has been borne disproportionately by small businesses. And the cumulative damage to London and the service sector over the next 10 years continues to worry the City. The US tariff story is of a completely different order, of course, as it will reverberate across the world economy. But there are some parallels, not least in certain aspects of the market reactions and the initial resilience. Economists estimate that the tariffs could lop anywhere from 0.5 per cent to one per cent off US gross domestic product over time. That's a US$150 billion to US$300 billion hit, which, though painful, would not be an instant crisis for an economy that's growing at a roughly two per cent annualised rate, where imported goods represent just 11 per cent of GDP and where tech and AI trends are generating considerable tailwinds. But as former White House economic adviser Jason Furman said in a New York Times essay last week, the tariff damage is likely not a one-off hit. The loss of 0.5 per cent of GDP, he argued, is "the equivalent of every household in America taking around US$1,000 and lighting it on fire, then doing it again every year. Forever." In the end, the main point of the British comparison is to show how extreme partisan arguments on the pros or cons of such giant economic policy changes don't necessarily get resolved cleanly in adaptive, hardy and hyper-complex economies. The latest YouGov opinion poll shows 56 per cent of Britons now think it was wrong to leave the EU, some nine years after their narrow vote to leave. The jury on Trump's tariffs is still out.
The Star
7 hours ago
- The Star
Anwar calls for deeper appreciation of Asian history, free from colonial narratives
Anwar at the launch of the 'More Than A Day As A Tiger' exhibition at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia. – Bernama --fotoBERNAMA (2025) COPYRIGHT RESERVED KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for a deeper appreciation of Asian history that moves beyond colonial narratives, citing Tipu Sultan of Mysore, an Indian ruler who fought against the British East India Company as a model of courage, learning and tolerance. He said that the contributions of Tipu Sultan and his father Haider Ali, as defenders against British colonial expansion, exemplified the importance of understanding history from the perspective of local and regional leaders rather than solely from Western accounts. "History is not necessarily very kind, one of our scholars Syed Hussein Alatas emphasised the need to reconstruct history because history cannot be written only by the winners or from the perspective of the colonial rulers," he said during the launch of the "More Than A Day As A Tiger" exhibition at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, here on Tuesday (Aug 5) night. Also present were the Prime Minister's wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail; Albukhary Foundation chairman Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary; Bernama chairman Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai and his spouse, as well as representatives from embassies and consulates. Anwar noted that Malaysian history, like that of many others, is often written from the perspective of the British, essentially reflecting Western colonial rule. "Of course, there have been lots of academic accounts, including by Edward Said on Orientalism, but the manner, the whole discipline of history, culture and society is being dictated by certain Western viewpoints," he said. Anwar also shared his personal experience visiting Mysore before taking office, recalling his admiration for Tipu Sultan's modest palace and his protection of Hindu temples, including the ancient temple there. He also praised Tipu Sultan's foresight in mastering military technology to confront colonial powers, citing the Mysore Sultanate's renowned cannons and firearms that had shocked the British in the early wars. "It is not just an ordinary exhibition, but to showcase the history of India and the Muslim world, and the history of the anti-colonial struggle against colonial rule, in this particular case, the British rule. "His diplomatic skills with the few sultanates, Muslims and Hindus in India and his venture into international diplomacy, particularly in persuading the French forces to support his struggle against the British," he said. Anwar noted that while Malaysians have historically had limited knowledge of Tipu Sultan and Haider Ali's legacy, the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia's exhibition would significantly enhance understanding about the two historical figures. Featuring an extensive collection of artefacts, manuscripts, weaponry and artworks related to Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan, the exhibition will run from tomorrow until Jan 11, 2026, at Special Gallery 2. – Bernama
