KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 (Bernama) — The government is committed to improve and strengthen the Islamic financial market, as part of its strategies to develop and prosper the nation.
In this regard, the Investment Account Platform (IAP) was introduced with an initial start-up fund of RM150 million.
“A centralised multi-bank platform has been established to operate the IAP which is currently being developed and targeted to be rolled out in January 2016,” said the Finance Ministry in the 2015/2016 Economic Report released today.
The report is issued in conjunction with the tabling of the 2016 Budget today by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who is also Finance Minister.
On the oil, gas energy sector, which is one of the National Key Economic Areas was aimed to attract investments, increase job opportunities and promote technology transfer to make Malaysia an oil and gas industry hub in the Asia-Pacific region by 2017.
Under this initiative, Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex (PIPC) was identified as one of the Entry Point Projects to spur downstream activities, with two major ongoing projects in the PIPC.
Meanwhile, in the pursuit of long-term fiscal sustainability and macroeconomic stability, emphasis is given to ensuring the well-being of the rakyat and reducing the fiscal deficit to achieve a balanced budget by 2020.
“In this regard, among the strategic measures undertaken were the subsidy rationalisation programme and implementation of the Goods and Services Tax,” it said.
As part of the subsidy rationalisation programme, the government has implemented a managed float fuel pricing mechanism for RON95 and diesel to determine the retail prices based on market prices.
“Under this new mechanism, fuel subsidies were scrapped, which in turn, will be channelled to social and development programmes,” the ministry said in the report.
Originally published on www.bernama.com
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