By Afiqah Badjenid
GOMBAK, 8 May 2017: The current state of the Malaysian economy is expected at a growth better than the years before. Even so, inflation rate keeps increasing and for the past eight years, this is the highest rate, a talk was told recently.
Giving an overview of the country’s current economy, Asst. Prof. Kulliyyah of Economic and Management, Mohd Asmy bin Mohd Thas Thaker, said that inflation had two factors, both equally important being the internal and external factors.
He said Malaysia is in a balanced situation due to the implementation of GST or Goods and Services Tax even before knowing that the oil price would fall. This is an extremely efficient policy along with other national policies, the speaker acknowledged.
“The fact that Petronas has actually contributed about 60% from each RM1 that they attain into the country’s revenue makes it an important ground for Malaysia. Though the collection of funds are steady, the spending is a whole other thing, whereby the nation’s debt is 96% internal and 4% external,” he emphasised.
He also stated that Malaysia has much better policies compared to other countries. “For example, Saudi Arabia is a country known across the globe for its abundance in oil supply, therefore it is entirely dependent upon it. When the price of oil cripples, it most definitely affects Saudi the most. Dubai, however, will not be shattered as much since it is backed by the stability of the nation’s tourism.”
The speaker added: “As we all know, there are three types of economics systems which are conventional, socialism and Islamic economics. Malaysia implements a mixed economics system and the latest news regarding the national economics system is that it is facing a deficit where the pay for lecturers is getting higher and higher.
This accumulates a Gross Domestic Product that keeps increasing from RM11,829million in the year 1970 to RM1,062,805million in 2015.”
The talk also highlighted the issue of low labour productivity. “Technology is taking over all the processes that used to be promoted to labour. The household debt is elevating making 2016/2017 indeed challenging years providing budget cuts with the digital economics currently being conquered by the Chinese.”
“Monopoly in the capitalist system is not prohibited whereas gold dinar is prompted to be invested in for its stable price. The next issue is regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) trade agreement.”
The speaker specifically mentioned that this agreement will not be implemented since US President, Donald Trump had rejected it at the very beginning of its introduction phase.
The talk was also told that other issues such as the ‘Forest City’ in Johor is having some kind of trouble due to speculations it has attracted and the impression that it has been ‘conquered’ by Chinese owners.
Organised by the Economy Secretariat Ma’ruf Club IIUM 2016/2017, the talk was held on 2 May at ECONS LT2. ***