MALAYSIA'S DIGITAL PERFORMANCE HAS POSITIVE IMPACT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH -- EPU

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 -- Malaysia's digital performance is currently in a position that reflects the effectiveness of our policies, which have a direct impact on economic growth as well as job opportunities, said deputy director-general (Macro), Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Dr Zunika Mohamed.

He said for example, Malaysia was in the top 50 in some international indices which showed that we were already moving forward.

"Actually, this policy is not a new thing. Previously, there have been several initiatives provided by the government, for example the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in 1996, the open-data initiatives in 2014, in 2015 there is an Internet of Things or IoT direction plan, and in 2016 there is a strategic national e-commerce direction plan," he said.

He was commenting on the formation of the recently launched MyDigital initiative, in which the government has instructed the EPU to provide a specific policy that enables all activities and activities related to economic development to be managed in an organised and coordinated manner.

Zunika discussed this matter at the ‘Temu Minda RTM’ programme with Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, as well as other invited guests including science advisor to the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Mohd Ghows Mohd Azzam and Malaysian Employers Federation executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan today.

"Rapid change has hit the world economy which has awakened us to master the digital economy to move forward.

"This digitisation has changed consumer behaviour and we see consumers requiring quick and easy dealings, and the government has realised that we need to do something to ensure that Malaysians, Malaysian companies and even the government are not left behind in this change," said Zunika.

He said this policy had been formulated as an idea prepared by the people and also the government in line with the Vision of Common Prosperity (Wawasan Kemakmuran Bersama) which was launched by the government in 2019.

--BERNAMA