Government to establish special economic committee: Najib

A special economic committee will be established to ensure Malaysia maintains its economic growth momentum, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

"The committee’s objective is to ensure Malaysia maintains the growth momentum that we have built since 2008, generating prosperity and higher quality of life for all Malaysians.

"The details of this will be announced shortly," he said at the launching of the National Tax Conference 2015 here today.

Najib said economic growth in the past has been strong and the government was determined to see that the record was maintained.

In the light of the current uncertain and challenging times, Najib said he was very aware of the state of the domestic economy, as well as, the current global economic and financial developments and sentiment.

"The governor of our central bank and the Securities Commission chairman briefed me recently," he said, adding that he was frequently updated by representatives from the broad section of the economy.

"Last week, I met chief economists and analysts from local and foreign financial institutions and yesterday, our business and corporate leaders.

"These meetings will continue in the coming weeks," he said.

The two-day conference was co-hosted by the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRB) and the Chartered Tax Institute of Malaysia.

Najib said the board had set new records in terms of tax collection over the last four years.

"From RM110 billion in 2011 to RM125 billion in 2012, RM129 billion in 2013 and RM134 billion in 2014. This is indeed a remarkable achievement.

"In view of its sterling record, I have every confident that for the period of the Eleventh Malaysia Plan, IRB will succeed in collecting a total target of RM871 billion," he said.

Najib also emphasised that Malaysia's economic fundamentals remained strong.

"We recorded a growth of 4.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2015.

"We have also diversified our economy, making it stronger," he said.

The prime minister said Malaysia's economy also continued to record trade and current account surpluses.

"The country's labour market conditions are stable with unemployment at 3.1 percent as of May 2015 and inflation remains low," he said.

The resilience of Malaysia's financial system also remained intact, said Najib.

"The domestic financial market continues to function in an orderly manner and financial intermediation activities continue to function efficiently to support the financial and financing needs of the domestic economy," said Najib.