Najib shares Malaysia's secret in reducing poverty, fighting unemployment
Bernama
March 6, 2017 18:51 MYT
March 6, 2017 18:51 MYT
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak (left) in a recent interview with Al Arabiya News Channel said Malaysia has sent many of its students to Japan and South Korea, and will continue to do so, as well as to almost parts of the world.: BERNAMApic
Constant focus on growth while ensuring every citizen benefits from the country's economic development are the philosophy upheld by Malaysia in efforts to reduce poverty rate in the country.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in sharing the success story indicated that the government also stressed on the fact that the growth is associated with justice.
"We made sure to balance so that everyone can benefit from it without marginalising any citizen.
"This is the philosophy that we believe in and we embody with effective measures and programmes, and you can see the significant reduction of poverty in Malaysia and increase in income to unprecedented levels," he said.
He said this in an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya News Channel in conjunction with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud's recent historical visit to Malaysia.
Najib noted that the percentage of poverty rate dropped to "a very low 0.6 per cent" in 2015 as compared to above 60 per cent ratio, recorded when Malaysia gained independence in 1957.
Meanwhile, on Malaysia's success in tackling unemployment, Najib said the government policies which enabled the private sector to become the engine of growth and coupled with direct foreign investments had lead to the creation of new job opportunies.
"The public sector was dominant in the past but through the process of transformation that we've made and the policies that we carried out as part of the transition plan since 2009, the private sector became the engine of growth today," he said.
The Prime Minister said he also stressed the need for creation of jobs with high salaries to allow the owners to enjoy a high level of income.
"We did not have the desire to create jobs requiring low skills, because it means a low level of income.
"We focused mainly on raising the income level through the creation of job opportunities for highly skilled citizens," he added. - BERNAMA