Malaysia plans $54bn roadmap for development

[Ulhas Joglekar <joglekarulhas@xxxxxxxx>]

The Asian Age
http://www.asianage.com/

Business

International

Malaysia plans $54bn roadmap for development

- By Eileen Ng

Kuala Lumpur, March 31: Malaysia said on Friday it will spend 220 billion
ringgit ($59 billion) over the next five years to fast-track the country's
economic and social development, and pledged to beef up a controversial
affirmative action programme for the majority Malays.

The five-year plan, a blueprint toward the country's grand vision to become
a developed nation by 2020, foresees the economy growing by six per cent
every year until 2010, and forecasts manufacturing to expand by an average
6.7 per cent annually. The economy expanded an average 4.5 percent and
manufacturing by 4.1 percent in the previous five-year period.

"We have no time to lose. Only 15 years remain between now and 2020," Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, dressed in a blue traditional Malay shirt
and cap, said in his two-hour speech to Parliament as he presented the plan.
"These 15 years must be our most productive years, our best years, so that
we may stand tall in the year 2020 and declare that our vision has been
realised."

He said 200 billion ringgit ($54 billion) will be spent by the government
and another 20 billion ringgit ($5.4 billion) by the private sector.

The plan also seeks to bridge the wealth gap between the country's three
major races - the Malays and the minority Chinese and Indians - and cut
poverty level by half to 2.8 per cent of the 26 million population. The
five-year plan didn't scale back the 36-year-old affirmative action
programme for Malays, who are considered to be lagging the Chinese. (AP)