Malaysia has the potential to achieve better growth and must get its act together to achieve that, according to Khazanah Nasional Bhd managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar.

“Growth of 4% to 4.5% is still good, compared to other countries in the world. On good years, we get 6% or even 7%, which is very good.

“However, economists have said the potential output growth of the country would be a bit higher, at least about 6.5% to 7%. Those are the kind of numbers we should be targeting.

“The various transformation plans by the Government are looking at this.

“As a country, we must get our act together and cut through whatever obstacles to get those numbers,” he said on the sidelines of Invest Malaysia 2016.

Azman said Malaysia should have an even higher target, given that the country had registered a growth of 6% to 7% in previous years,

“We are quite demanding and we want growth to be better. That is where all of us at various levels come in to make sure companies are better managed in order to create more value.

“When that happens, growth will follow,” he said.

At a plenary session earlier, Azman said slower growth, unusual monetary policy like low, zero or even negative rates and the end of the commodity super cycle were some of the “new normal”.

He said technology disruption as well as increased public scrutiny were also the “new normal”.

Azman said Panama was a name of a hat but had now attracted tremendous public scrutiny, referring to the Panama Papers.

“We do give dividends. It has been growing. If there is a windfall, we will distribute special dividends,” Azman said.

He was asked if the sovereign wealth fund would need to subsidise the budget.

Meanwhile, the Employees Provident Fund chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said that there were investment opportunities amid the slower global growth.

He also said that yields were harder to come by nowadays for investments.

Source:
courtesy of THE STAR

by The Star

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