Greece's debt crisis unlikely to impact Malaysia's fundamentals

KUALA LUMPUR: Greece's financial crisis should not significantly affect the country's economic and financial structure, as Malaysia is not fully exposed to such external headwinds, says Treasury Secretary-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
"Our exposure to Greece is not that much. In terms of trading, finances and economy, we are very strong fundamentally," he told reporters at the pre-launch of Bumipreneurs of Tomorrow (BOT) program here yesterday.
"Whatever is happening in Greece, the impact (to the country) is there but not that much," he said, adding that the impact would be temporary.
Greece's voters recently rejected the terms of an international bailout, which threatened to jeopardize the nation's crippled economy further, as well as the future of the European currency.
The ringgit closed higher against the US dollar at 3.7945/7975 against the greenback yesterday but continues to face downward pressure over concerns of Greece leaving the eurozone.
Recently, in an interview with Bloomberg Irwan Serigar said the government plans to cut more subsidies and move billions of dollars in government employee housing loans off its balance sheets to bolster its fiscal position.
He said the government will gradually remove subsidies from petrol, liquefied petroleum gas and cooking oil in the coming years.
Meanwhile, Irwan said the BOT program aims to bring together the private and public sector in building a stronger ecosystem supporting the bumiputras.
It also aims to address the information gap and to get bumiputras to transform their ventures using business intelligence, marketing or service delivery harnessing the use of technology and new business models.
He said government agencies that are involved include Cradle Fund Sdn Bhd, Centre for Entrepreneur Development and Research, SME Corp Malaysia, the Bumiputra Agenda Steering Unit (TERAJU) and Institut Keusahawanan Negara (INSKEN).
The program is also supported by private and non-governmental organisations such as Global Innovation & Entrepreneurship Foundation, Akademi Usahawan Mikro and Kelab Usahawan Selangor.
He said about 3,000 participants are expected to attend the two-day program.
The BOT program will be launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak on Aug 19 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.