KUALA LUMPUR: The Shared Prosperity Vision (WKB2030) will continue with efforts to achieve the 30% Bumiputera equity ownership target but needed participation from the country’s corporate sector for it to become a reality, Economic Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali (pix) said.
According to him, participation from Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera corporations are important in increasing the percentage of equity ownership of both ethnic groups.
“Bumiputera equity ownership has not only reached its target but dropped to 16.2% (in 2015) from 23% in 2011, the non-Bumiputera equity ownership has also declined to 30.7% in 2015 compared to 34.8% in 2011 while foreign equity ownership has increased to 45.3%.
“This is due to the imprudent policy by the previous government which hurried the liberalisation process and made an impact on Malaysians,” he told the media after attending the launching of WKB2030 by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, here today.
According to him, the current government might have to revisit some of the initiative taken by the previous government in regards to liberalisation.
“... maybe we are not ready for that (liberalisation on some of the policies), maybe the timing was not correct ... we don’t know, so we have to study what was done and what happened in the past,” he said.
Mohamed Azmin also said the Pakatan Harapan government would continue to seek greater foreign direct investment into the country, in new sectors including aerospace, digital economy and big data.
“Malaysians, in particular, must be ready to embrace this technology. Certainly, the objective is to ensure that the local participation, either the Bumiputera or non-Bumiputera would be enhanced under WKB2030,” he explained.
The government according to him was also looking at the need to ‘recalibrate’ new policies so that the country’s prosperity could be shared among the people.
This he said, is important to ensure the stability and harmony of Malaysians of various races, religions and ethnic groups.
The minister also said, that even though WKB2030 will only be officially implemented in 2021 until 2030, but the spirit of WKB will be incorporated in the next budget, to be tabled on the Oct 11.
“So during the transitional period we will be able to see the progress of this WKB and when we hit 2021 we are in the full steam to achieve the full target for the next 10 years”, he said.
Asked on the government’s target of achieving RM3.4 trillion gross domestic product by 2030, Mohamed Azmin said that as long as the country’s economy expanded between 4.5% to 5% every year, then Malaysia is on the right track. - Bernama
