Should it be 6 percent growth for the next 10 years or should it be 9 percent?

economic transformation programme 210910 idris jala Last week, government think-tank Pemandu unveiled a bold investment programme worth RM1.376 trillion over 10 years to almost triple the country’s per capita income and push Malaysia into the ranks of developed nations by 2020.

About 60 percent of the investments would come from the private sector, 32 percent from government-linked companies and 8 percent from the government.

In making the announcement, Pemandu chief executive officer Idris Jala said Malaysia’s annual growth rate should be at least 6 percent to achieve this ambitious target.

However, an opposition parliamentarian has today poured cold water over Pemandu’s growth projections.

nurul izzah sedition at dang wangi ipd 220910 01 According to Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar, the country will require an “unrealistic” growth of 9 percent to become a high-income country by 2020.

“It was publicly announced that the Economic Transformation Plan (ETP) will only provide 74 percent, or RM 1.258 trillion, of the estimated RM 1.7 trillion GNI (gross national income) in 2020 against our RM660 billion GNI for 2010, that required the quoted 6 percent annual growth rate.”

Nurul argued that Malaysia will in reality need an average of 9 percent growth to achieve the RM1.7 trillion target in 2020.

The MP referred to Prime Minister Najib Razak's speech last year that Malaysia was aiming for an annual 9 percent growth in the next decade.

Najib had to immediately correct himself at a press conference soon after. “I did not say nine percent, I said around six percent as nine is not realistic,” he told journalists.

Misleading growth figures

Nurul accused the government of providing misleading growth projections.

“I call upon the government to set the matter straight and immediately announce if Malaysia actually needs a 9 percent annual growth rate to achieve the RM 1.7 trillion GNI target in 2020?

“How can this be achieved when the world economy and our competitiveness are equally in decline? How does this indicate on the viability of the ETP just recently announced?”

The young parliamentarian said that the rakyat and investors must have confidence in the official data released by the government, and any manipulation could be seen as a “fraudulent, misleading and unacceptable” act.

“The people deserve to know, especially with the upcoming budget announcement to be made in Parliament in October, so as not to be seen as misleading, (as this) will have a profound negative impact on not only public confidence but also on international confidence on our data integrity, in the light of our more than 80 percent decline in FDI (foreign direct investment)."

Powerpoint: Idris Jala's ETP presentation