Najib: Special Economic Committee to minimise impact of economic issues

Women, Family and Community Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim said the council consists of 16 prominent and respectable women personalities from diverse fields and backgrounds in the country.

August 26 Malaysia will establish a special economic team to ensure continued growth, Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Wednesday, in a bid to boost confidence in the ringgit and the country’s stocks.

Besides Mr Nazir, who is chairman of Malaysia’s second-largest bank CIMB, the other experts include Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar, managing director of sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional; Maybank CEO Datuk Sri Farid Alias; Datuk Seri Dr K. Govindan, group chief executive officer of ratings agency RAM Holdings and Prof Datuk Dr Noor Azlan Ghazali, vice-chancellor of National University of Malaysia.

Speaking to the Financial Times (FT), the former prime minister said he does not believe the official stand by Mr Najib, and which was confirmed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, that the deposit was a donation from a benefactor in the Middle-East.

Najib said the committee was merely a short-term solution will only be operational until the global economy bounced back.

The committee will meet every week, or more frequently if necessary, to deliberate and propose immediate steps, the statement said. “If there are economists with good proposals, they can be brought for consideration by the government”, he added.

A “sharp fall” in the prices of crude and other commodities is hurting government revenue, and Malaysia remains “at the mercy of often unpredictable” global economic factors, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Tuesday.

At the same time, he stressed that the existing Economic Council, which he chaired, will continue to function in giving attention to overall economic issues.

Najib said the committee will “formulate strategies to maintain economic growth through domestic and foreign investment”.

“While our economic fundamentals are strong, I am concerned of the current developments in the global financial markets and the impact of the developments on our economy and on the lives of all Malaysians”.

He reiterated that the government would not impose capital controls and peg the ringgit to the US dollar.