GEORGE TOWN: Malaysia must cope with the possibility of a longer Movement Control Order (MCO) period due to increasing number of new Covid-19 cases in the country.
Penang Chief Minister's investment adviser Datuk Seri Lee Kah Choon said as such the stimulus packages including an additional package of economic measures favouring Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector to be announced next week was considered be nothing more then a 'life support' action.
Instead, he said the nation must be put into productive mode for long term financial sustainability with the manufacturing sector as the main economic driver.
"As Malaysia forms part of the global supply chain, any disruption in our production commitment would also impact the supply chain gravely.
"Any prolonged lockdown in Malaysia will see our supply chain being replaced by countries such as China, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore," he said in a statement today.
Unemployment rate, on the other hand, could worsen from 3 per cent to 15 per cent if the workforce was not put back to productive mode anytime soon, he said.
However, putting people back to work might not be an easy task without proper protection.
Lee proposed for the government to work on Environment, Health and Safety protocol (EHS) in order to protect the health and safety of the employees as well as the environment from hazards associated with their respective workplace.
He also said that the current practice of approving below 50 per cent operations was impractical without the support of the full supply chain.
Lee said sanitisers cannot make it to the shelves without the supply of bottles, so do eggs, which could not be supplied without the trays since bottles and trays are not in production as those items are not deemed to be amongst the 'essential' lists.
"Extraordinary time calls for extraordinary solutions and we are in an extraordinary time. We need to look for a paradigm shift away from pitting health against the economy.
"Otherwise, we may have a bankrupt government, shuttered industries and unemployment awaiting us after this pandemic is over," he warned.
Source : https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/04/581503/malaysia-must-shift-productive-mode-financial-sustainability