Business

Published: Wednesday November 18, 2009 MYT 12:39:00 PM

3% to 4% economic is good but very anemic, says Minister


KUALA LUMPUR: Three to four per cent economic growth is good but it is very anemic, says Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in-charge of the Economic Planning Unit Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

"At that growth there is no excitement. The excitement comes at beyond five per cent and at six per cent of course very exciting," he told reporters after opening the Association of Private Hospitals of Malaysia International Healthcare Travel Conference 2009.

He was asked to comment on The World Bank's estimation that Malaysia's gross domestic product is to grow by 4.1 per cent next year, higher than the government's target of about three per cent.

The World Bank has also on Tuesday predicted that Malaysia's economy, which has started to show signs of recovery from the global slowdown, will return to its potential six per cent average growth rate by 2012.

Malaysia needs to achieve at least 5.4 per cent growth in order to attain high-income economic status by 2020.

"We in Malaysia have one advantage, we can put the thinking cap and think out of the box. So now we are thinking to see how we can get the five to six per cent for the coming years to achieve Vision 2020," he said.

High growth sectors like the medical tourism are the ones that will help Malaysia attain high-income economy status in 10 years' time. - Bernama

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