Wednesday January 21, 2009
More help against slowdown
By MAZWIN NIK ANIS
PUTRAJAYA: A second economic stimulus package is in the works, offering even more assistance to groups vulnerable to the global economic slowdown, including retrenched workers, says Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
The Deputy Prime Minister who is also the Finance Minister said the Ministry was gathering views from various parties on what could be included in the second package to cover areas not part of the first stimulus package.
“This includes how to deal with companies that may be on the verge of retrenching their workers. We want to look at the assistance that we can give to them (companies and workers),” he told reporters yesterday.
“This is not a form of bailout to companies, but more of the Government looking at various angles on how we can help parties affected by the global economic slowdown.”
Najib, however, declined to elaborate on the details as “a lot of things are still being looked into”.
“We are waiting for the right time to launch the second package. We want to ensure the focus of the second package is different from the first,” he said.
He added that a project management unit has been set up in the Finance Ministry to monitor the implementation of all projects under the first package.
“The allocations have been given out. The onus is on the ministries to ensure that all projects are implemented.
“We projected an additional growth of 1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2009 should the entire RM7bil be spent. If all the money is spent, we expect GDP to be 3.5% instead of 2.5%,” he said.
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