MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT OUTLINE PROPOSALS TO STRENGTHEN ECONOMY

KUALA LUMPUR, May 5 (Bernama) -- Members of parliament (MPs) today outlined several proposals to strengthen the country's economy in the face of retaliatory tariffs from the United States (US) and global economic uncertainty.

Paya Besar (BN) MP Datuk Indera Mohd Shahar Abdullah urged the government to expedite the announcement of the new gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for 2025 as preparations for the country and economic sectors to adapt to the country's economic situation need to be taken.

“I am worried that if we delay this announcement, we will also delay the announcement of the 13th Malaysia Plan this year,” he said during the debate session after the briefing at the Dewan Rakyat special sitting on US tariffs by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

According to him, the polarisation of a country's economic growth is closely related to the scale of global policy uncertainty.

"My question is, what is the quicker strategy for the government to take? Will Malaysia take steps in a mitigating manner, change or adapt or just accept the tariff levels that will be imposed later?" said Mohd Shahar.

Meanwhile, Lim Guan Eng (Bagan-PH) proposed that Bank Negara Malaysia's Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) be lowered by 1.0 percentage point to 2.0 per cent from the current 3.0 per cent.

"Given that inflation is increasingly under control, the main target should be focused on driving economic growth," he added.

He also suggested that business opportunities and access to local industries be opened by requiring all foreign and local investors to purchase at least 50 per cent of local products.

"Many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have complained that foreign contractors who win government and private bidding only buy goods from their home countries, hence local SMEs do not obtain any business orders.

“Another important matter is to protect local traders from trade diversion, such as dumping of products by countries that are blocked from entering the US market, like China,” he added.

Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin (Larut-PN) has asked the government to conduct a study so that the country can reduce imported food and agricultural products.

“So I would like to remind the government that if possible we should look at this as an important sector for the future of food security, for example. 

“That's why we need to consider helping farmers from now on because the Trump administration is for four years and this means that (there is a potential) tariffs for these four years may have (an impact on) food security in our country,” he added.

-- BERNAMA