Published October 29, 2009

Funds with strings attached

By PAULINE NG
IN KUALA LUMPUR

	Email this article
	Print article
	Feedback

FUNDS for the 20-odd ministries from Malaysia's next five-year development blueprint - some RM230 billion (S$94.6 billion) - will come with strings attached. The ministries will be required to justify proposed projects including a cost-benefit analysis, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Noriyah Ahmad, director-general of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), said that government planners had received RM500 billion worth in project submissions under the current Ninth Malaysia Plan, but could no longer afford to be indiscriminate about projects given the large fiscal deficit of 7.4 per cent of gross domestic product and a plunge in foreign investments.

Spending on the Tenth Malaysia Plan covering the period 2011-2015 would be 'results and outcome oriented' particularly in six key areas, which include crime reduction, strengthening rural infrastructure, and improving public transport.

Instead of five years, the public investment plan would be shortened to two years and reviewed annually so that ministries could submit projects that had been reviewed thoroughly rather than rushed through.

The Tenth Malaysia Plan - perhaps the last five-year blueprint, given how quickly they become obsolete - would continue to chart a plan for the country to achieve developed status by 2020. By EPU's calculations, this is only possible with the economy growing at an average 5.5 per cent annually.

However, the government has liberalised parts of the economy and is talking about 'a second wave of privatisation'.