NEW GOVERNMENT MUST BRING STABILITY TO THE ECONOMY - ASSOCIATIONS

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 -- The incoming new administration must stabilise an economy that has been badly hit by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, said the Federation of Malaysian Business Associations.

“(Having stability) means that we will have more foreign direct investments (FDI) and even our domestic investments will return, and generally we will have more jobs for the people. That's the focus (we need) right now,” the federation’s treasurer-general Chris Daniel Wong said on Bernama TV's Mid-day Update programme today.  

Wong said many businesses in the country are in trouble, especially small and medium businesses, noting that “there are four types of (businesses) in the industry right now, we have 30% of businesses who have actually closed shop, 30% in ICU, 30% in pre-ICU, and only 10% have actually continued to do well and survive.” 

He said the government will need an upgraded plan to bring down COVID-19 cases although there have been many states that have transitioned to Phase Two and Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).

“The new administration needs to relook at the NRP. We need to go back to the drawing board to ensure that the standard operating procedures are perfected so that we can bring down the infection rate.

“I just want to cite from a report that I saw today from the local newspaper, that 50.3 per cent of work-based infections are still coming from the factories. So, this is something that the new administration must look at very seriously, as the people on the ground continue to worry about this,” Wong said.

The country is awaiting for a new government to be established following the collapse of the Perikatan Nasional government recently.

-- BERNAMA