Tan Sri Azman Hashim
President
MASSA

Greetings and Best Wishes for 2022!

2021 was a year of perseverance and recovery for all of us. By the month of November, we have recorded more than 95% of the adult population being fully vaccinated. Alongside this encouraging development, interstate travel restrictions have been relaxed, enabling the economic sectors to slowly begin operating in full swing.

Malaysia’s economic performance showed a slight slump by 4.5% in the third quarter; however, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) expects a rebound as the impact of the pandemic is slowly waning with the easing of border controls and the gradual recommencement of economic activities across all sectors. GDP growth for 2022 is projected to recover between 5.5% and 6.5% with the key support of manufacturing and construction projects, the improvement in labour market as well as a high export demands.

The headline inflation for 2021 is projected to average between 2.0% and 3.0%, while the underlying inflation, as measured by core inflation, is expected to average below 1.0%. In 2022, headline inflation is expected to remain moderate. With the normalizations of economic activities, core inflation is predicted to rise but remain subdued due to spare capacity in the economy and slack in the labour market. However, the future outlook still depends on the COVID-19 risk factors, both globally and domestically, the global financial markets stability and the disruptions of supply chain.

The Government’s National Investment Aspirations (NIA), signals the Government’s commitment towards cohesively and synergistically fostering long-term sustainable economic growth by reforming and restructuring its investments strategies and policies, cognisant of the new complex challenges and demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the prevailing uncertainty and volatility of the pandemic as the global economy begins to return to form. The framework will be catered towards better attracting strategic, quality investments with high-value economic impact, with focus on development of sophisticated products and services through high local research and development and innovation alongside high skilled job creation, to ensure Malaysia remains relevant and competitive as a prime destination for trade & investment.

Going forward, I am cautiously optimistic in my outlook towards Malaysia’s economic recovery in 2022, underpinned by my expectations in the ratification of RCEP and CPTPP, the post-pandemic / endemic phase and the ever-increasing digitalisation and digital solutions across all business sectors.

I appreciate the continuing support and cooperation of all members, especially my fellow Executive Committee members, and ex-officio partners for your attendance, support and contributions at our regular meetings & events and not forgetting our sponsors of our website.

I also wish to thank all who have contributed valuable and insightful articles to our Newsletter for 2021.

I wish everyone a happy, healthy and successful 2022.

Tan Sri Azman Hashim
President
15 December 2021