(AFP) The government expects a total 45,000 workers to be retrenched this year, Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn said today.

The "big" job losses would, however, be offset by the creation of 110,000 new jobs, Fong was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying.

He told parliament a total of 31,302 workers had already been retrenched from January to October this year.

The government would assist the workers by registering job-seekers and vacancies and organising job fests and training schemes, he said.

Malaysia announced last month it would cut the permit period for all foreign workers except domestic helpers from six or seven years to three years.

The government has revised downwards its 2001 economic growth forecast to 1.0-2.0 percent because of the "greater-than-expected" slowdown in the world economy.