Sunday 1 March 2009

Malaysia's Economy Takes a Dive While UMNO-Led Government Focuses on Chua Soi Lek's Blow-job and if Catholic Herald Can Use the Arabic Word for "God"

Malaysia's Economy Takes a Dive

...... MEANWHILE,

The nation is engrossed with the following priorities of this UMNO-led Government :

  • Police want to interview the woman who was filmed performing oral sex with former Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan said police were looking for her following two reports lodged recently in Ampang and Petaling Jaya. "We are investigating the case under Section 377A of the Penal Code for carnal intercourse against the order of nature as the two people who lodged the reports claimed that there was oral sex in the DVD."
    Read here for more

  • A day after the about-turn on the toll hike for five major highways in the Klang Valley, the Government has today changed its mind allowing conditional use of the word ‘Allah’ in Christian publications.Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said a gazette would be issued as early as tomorrow to cancel the earlier gazette.He told reporters here yesterday that there were mistakes madein the drafting of the Feb 16 Read here for more and here

  • Police sprayed chemical-laced water at about 300 supporters of detained Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar. The supporters were accompanying nine people representing nine states and a relative of Uthayakumar, who intended to lodge police reports alleging that the Hindraf leader was denied proper medical attention for his ailment. Read here for more

  • A group of Umno Youth members mobbed DAP stalwart Karpal Singh in Parliament House.Dewan Negara President Dr Abdul Hamid Pawanteh said this was tragic because Parliament was supposed to be a place where anyone can freely visit. Read here for more

  • Police yesterday seized a laptop computer belonging to Bandar Kuching member of parliament Chong Chieng Jen in connection with an investigation into an article posted as a comment in his blog. Sarawak Criminal Investigation Department chief Senior Assistant Commissioner II Huzir Mohamad said the laptop was seized from Chong's legal office in Wisma Mata Kuching because of lodged report last year, claiming that the article, originally posted in a blog by a "Mr Smith", was seditious in nature as it touched on religion. Read here for more

  • Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today the Perak state assembly speaker cannot call an emergency sitting of the assembly because the court has yet to make a decision on the status of the government in the state.Read here for more
Read here for more in Anil Netto's blog and here and here on the state of Malaysian economy

Excerpts

Who is managing the economy now?
Is it running on auto-pilot?

The figures don’t lie.


(Image courtesy of Anil Netto's blog)
Malaysia’s economy took a dive in the fourth quarter as GDP stood on the brink of negative territory, growing by just by 0.1 per cent, compared to 4.7 per cent in the third quarter.

This was largely due to a drop in manufacturing from 1.8 per cent growth in the third quarter to a shrinkage of 8.8 per cent in the fourth quarter, largely because of a contraction of 12.3 per cent in export-oriented industries.

Meanwhile, portfolio investments continued to flee the country. In the fourth quarter, RM25 billion flowed out of the country though that was lower than the RM38 billion that left the country in the previous quarter.

Some economic analysts now predict Malaysia's GDP growth will fall to 1% this year; others believe such estimates are overly optimistic and that the country is headed for recession.

But the Bank Negara governor said we have nothing to worry and insists we will not slide into a recession. She was reported as saying that growth for 2009 would be 5.0 - 5.5% (oh, puh-leeease!).

Over the last eight months, the country’s foreign reserves have dropped by US$34 billion. They have dipped from a high of US$125.8 billion on 30 June 2008 to US$91.6 billion as at 13 February 2009.

In the third quarter of 2008, Malaysia’s foreign reserves fell by RM31.5 billion.

The balance of payments posted a deficit during the third quarter of RM31.5 billion. (We had a surplus of RM26.2 billion in the second quarter.) In other words, we had to dip into our piggy bank because our payments were MORE than our receipts during the third quarter.

The breakdown of this balance of payments deficit is as follows:
    • Current account (trade in goods and services): RM38.7 billion surplus.

    • Capital and financial account: RM61.5 billion deficit (an INCREASE of 400 per cent from the second quarter!)
We can now see that this RM61.5 billion deficit is largely due to the financial account deficit. To be more specific, direct investment abroad has risen. On the other hand, direct investment in Malaysia has sunk 95 per cent from RM17.4 billion in the second quarter of 2008 to just RM0.9 billion in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, portfolio and financial derivative funds have been fleeing the country. The third quarter of 2008 saw RM56 billion leaving the country, 134 per cent MORE than the second quarter of 2008.

In November 2008, Malaysia's exports fell by 5% compared with the same month in 2007 as global demand fell and commodity prices plunged. Malaysia's exports mainly comprise electrical and electronic products (40%), crude oil and petroleum-based products (11%), and palm oil and palm-oil based products (10%). The most worrying drop was in the exports of electrical and electronic products, which fell 16% over the same period.

The number of workers engaged in the manufacturing sector in November also fell by 5% from a year earlier. Unemployment was officially quoted at 3.1% in the third quarter of 2008, but it is likely to inch upwards in 2009 as more export-oriented firms shed workers.


(Image courtesy of Anil Netto's blog)

    4 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    No hope for Malaysia if continue leave it to UMNO-BN to rule. Let vote BN out in any election in future.

    Anonymous said...

    For the mentality and mindset of the Malaysian Barisan Government in this present-day global crisis, I bet my kindergarten kid can do and perform a better job in economics. There's just no apt words or adjectives in the Oxford or any Bahasa Dictionary that would describe this Government in all her true correct colours at this present day.
    malsia1206

    Anonymous said...

    I read with disgust that our PM is dissapointed with the almost zero growth. Perhaps he should check on why there's no growth. The country is still vastyly corrupted and setting up MACC is no difference since most of them there cannot be trusted and bias too, well they are under the purview of PM, what more has to say. I think maybe PM is dissapointed bcoz his share has been decreased with the economy coming down. If he really care about growth, he should kill the number one blockage, but then his share will be killed too ...

    Yap Chong Yee said...

    Malaysia is in trouble for the most ordinary reason, Malaysia has no leaders who are worthy of that describtion. After Mahatir, though his leadership is questionable as to wther his was a good government or a bad one; as for me I have it on record to say that Mahatir's was the single most poisonous and divisive force in the annals of Malaysia. It is Mahatir's influence that has so polarised Malaysia that if we are to move in the direction that we are as now set to go, Malaysia will be a DROP DEAD ECONOMY.

    The title of this article tells it all, that Malaysia burns while Bedawi strums his guitar! and come the next Prime Minister Najib will come the beginnings of dictatorship in the making, because Najib has shown all the qualities of a mata buta, thinks nothing of paying Rm,120 million to sent a dentist into space for the opportunity to glaot a little for a Malaysian in Space.

    A Prime Minister who has no strategy not vision and as a consequance he risked dirty politics and thinks nothing of BUYING scoundrels to cross over to form government. In this he has shown himself as a man shorn of all considerations of decency, ethics or morals. If Najib is the best of Malaysia then what can we expect ?