PUTRAJAYA, Feb 8 — The Najib administration set up a new unit today to co-ordinate and drive Bumiputera economic participation through new and existing initiatives.
This includes the public listing of Bumiputera companies with a market capitalisation of over RM1 billion this year, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
“This year, it is expected that five Bumiputera companies will be listed and total market capitalisation will exceed RM1 billion and we hope that this will be doubled by the middle of next year,” he told reporters after launching the Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera (Teraju).
Najib (picture) said the government’s role in fulfilling this target would be in the form of “last-mile” assistance to ensure that Bursa Malaysia requirements are met.
Teraju will lead, co-ordinate and drive Bumiputera economic participation through new and existing initiatives, propose institutional reform to increase effectiveness and act as the secretariat for the Bumiputera Agenda Supreme Council (MTAB) that oversees Bumiputera economic development, he added.
Teraju’s chief executive officer Husni Salleh said the unit’s role would be to “align the programmes of various agencies” tasked to drive Bumiputera participation in the economy.
He added that the list of Bumiputera companies that would be assisted towards public listing was still being evaluated and would be finalised after a series of labs beginning later this month.
The four- to six-week process will also decide other policies and initiatives that Teraju will recommend to the MTAB which is chaired by the prime minister, he said.
Najib said Teraju would look to ensure speedy and effective results, enhance institutional effectiveness, manage and support programmes and assess the impact of initiatives with regards to Bumiputera economic participation.
The prime minister has promised in the past that reforms to the economy would still see to the needs and interests of the Bumiputera community who are made up of the majority Malay population as well as indigenous people such as the Orang Asli.
In 2009, he had done away with regulations requiring a 30 per cent Bumiputera stake in 27 service and financial sub-sectors and limited the purview of the Foreign Investment Committee that oversees Bumiputera equity.
A 30 per cent Bumiputera stake in the national economy has been an objective of the government since the implementation of the New Economic Policy in 1970.
Official statistics state that Bumiputera-held equity in the country stands at 18.7 per cent as of 2004.
Najib said today that Bumiputeras account for 73 per cent of the 2.4 million households in the lowest 40 per cent income bracket.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment