The Chinese Malaysian business community is pessimistic about the nation's economic outlook, revealed a survey.

The survey, focusing on the economic situation in the country for the second half of 2008, was conducted by the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM).

acccim economy survey 210901 reading report Respondents were mainly from the wholesale and retail sectors, manufacturing, professional and business services as well as from the construction sector.

"The Chinese business community is pessimistic about the economic outlook for the first half of 2009," read the survey.

"Three quarters (77 percent) of the respondents are pessimistic or somewhat pessimistic with regards to the Malaysian economic outlook in the medium term i.e. in the next two to three years whereas 22 percent are optimistic or somewhat optimistic," it added.

On the current issues facing the Chinese business community, 73 percent of the respondents felt that the recessions in the United States, Japan and Europe have affected their businesses.

Forty-five percent of the respondents said that the sluggish prices of commodities had a negative impact on their businesses.

Reduce fuel prices

Apart from this, 45 percent confirmed that the sharp depreciation of the Ringgit against the US dollar had a negative impact on their business.

A whopping 93 percent also felt that the government should further reduce the prices of petrol and diesel to reflect the current price of crude oil.

Majority (84 percent) of the respondents also opined that the government should increase the stimulus package beyond RM7 billion.

On employee retrenchments, 47 percent said they intended to reduce their workforce in view of the current economic scenario while 52 percent would maintain their current workforce.

An overwhelming majority (89 percent) also expressed concern over public safety in the country.

Those polled also felt that the Malaysian economy had continued to deteriorate in the second half of 2008.

Four major factors were cited as adversely affecting business performance in the second half of 2008. The four factors were, drop in foreign and domestic demand, government policies, an increase in operating cost and price of raw materials and domestic competition.

The affected two sectors

At the launch of the survey, ACCIM president William Cheng told reporters that the government should emphasise the manufacturing and construction sectors in its proposed second stimulus package to reduce retrenchments.

acccim economy survey 210901 william cheng He said these two sectors would be the most affected by the crisis especially during the first half of this year.

"We expect retrenchment in these two sectors will likely be more serious during this period," he added.

To help revitalise the domestic economy, the chambers introduced a six-point plan, stressing energy cost, infrastructure development, construction and property industry and gas supply to maintain employment and encourage local and foreign investments.

On gas supply, ACCCIM encouraged industries to operate during the off-peak period to reduce electricity demand during the peak period.

Cheng said about 1,000 to 3,000 megawatts of electricity could be saved during that period which could be supplied to another 100 factories.

On retrenchments, employers should consider reducing the workload by 20 per cent, and cutting wages by 10 to 15 per cent to keep everyone employed, he added.