The government is positive about a substantial reduction in national debt within the next few months following initiatives such as the cancellation of several projects.
Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said since he took over the role of prime minster, the cancellation of costly projects have contributed to the overall debt reduction.
However, he said such initiatives did not fare well with foreign investors which led to a capital outflow.
“Sometimes, I feel the market prefers to be told lies on how good we are, rather than the truth,” he said.
Meanwhile, he also emphasized on the government’s business friendly policy and the need to work closely with the public and private sectors.
Mahathir added that the government was open to constructive comments and ideas from the private sector to improve their processes.
Furthermore, he said they intend to facilitate the growth of the private section as it fuels the wealth of the country, while they were also keen on foreign direct investments for high technology industries in a bid to address unemployment issues among fresh graduates.
“We can train Malaysians to produce good quality products that are acceptable to the world market. The government is also looking at ways to improve productivity in the country and not focusing solely on raising the income level,” he added.
He said high income is not as effective as the purchasing power remained the same regardless of price inflations.
“For the people to feel the benefits of high income, it is through improvement of productivity, which allows production costs to remain low. This can be achieved through several measures, among others, better training, more efficient management and automation,” he said.
