| August 08, 2006 14:15 PM |   |
Malaysia's Economy Will Continue To Grow, Says Zeti
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 (Bernama) -- Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said that eventhough inflation has peaked, Malaysia will continue to see steady growth in the second half of the year.
"Certainly, we want to see steady solid growth continue in the second half of the year as well as going into next year. As long as inflation remains at manageable level, it will continue to remain supportive of the growth," she told reporters after the launch of Prudential BSN Takaful Bhd, here today.
She was asked to comment on what will be the bigger risk for the Malaysian economy, higher inflation or slower economic growth, if the Malaysian economy went down.
Yesterday, Dr Zeti said Malaysia was expected to register strong second quarter growth this year, having recorded good export numbers so far.
She said industrial production has been also good.
Malaysia's exports in June rose 11.4 percent from a year earlier to RM49.61 billion, in line with projections by economists. It was however lower than the revised 13.1 percent projection in May.
The Malaysia Institute of Economic Research (MIER) had earlier cut its economic growth for the country for 2006 to 5.2 percent from 5.5 percent.
Bank Negara is expected to announce the second quarter growth on August 30, 2006.
Meanwhile, earlier in her speech, Zeti said the consultative paper on the principle-based guidelines on the takaful operational frameworks would be issued soon.
The aim, she said, was to establish the parameters within which the takaful operators carry out their business, whilst allowing for the different takaful models currently adopted by the respective operators.
"This consultative process is a further reflection of the approach adopted to take into consideration feedback from the industry players in designing appropriate regulatory framework and thus balancing the interests of various stakeholders," she said.
Zeti said the industry could also expect to see some progress on the development of international best practices for the takaful industry by the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) in the near future.
-- BERNAMA
Source: http://www.bernama.com.my/
