Malaysians must prepare for hard times as there is every sign economic recovery will be a long, slow process, said Najib Razak.
He said unless the government addressed some important issues, the economy will slow down for years and there will not be enough new jobs created for the people.
The first challenge Putrajaya must face is the negative Gross Fixed Capital Formation (PMTK), he said, which plummeted after GE14 and has been in the negative since the first quarter of 2019.
“This PMTK covers all types of investment and capital formation in the country, including local investments. It plays the most significant role in generating national growth and new jobs in the future,” Najib wrote on Facebook today.
“If it persists in the negative, then the economy will slow down for years to come and not enough new jobs will be generated to meet the demands of hundreds of thousands of new graduates and young people entering the job market every year.”
The second matter the government needs to pay attention to is inflation, he said.
“There was negative inflation was negative last year as rebates were given for electricity and petrol prices fell to around RM1.30 and domestic demand weakened.
“But this electricity discount has been withdrawn and the price of petrol has gradually risen to RM1.96 These major changes in these two basic costs will certainly have an impact on the inflation rate”
Finally, there must be new jobs to replace lost jobs, said Najib.
“According to a Bank Negara report, only 43 out of every 100 people who lost their jobs last year managed to find a new job.
“It’s even worse in the tourism sector, where only 28 out of 100 people were able to find work again.”
Najib urged the government to reconsider his proposal to provide loans for workers in the sectors that are slowest to recover, such as tourism, to upskill or reskill. – TMI