KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 10): Eight months into the job as finance minister II, Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan can finally speak even more confidently on Malaysia, with the economy growing much stronger than expected so far this year, and on the ringgit, which is at its strongest against the greenback in more than one year.

To rub off some of this confidence on others, he shares plans to harness some RM1.8 trillion in liquidity at government-linked investment companies (GLICs) to invigorate growth and bolster structural reforms outlined in the Economy Madani framework unveiled by Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim a year ago.

“Malaysia is a country with a wealth of liquidity. And the biggest holders of liquidity are actually the GLICs, being the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (Diperbadankan) (KWAP), Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), Lembaga Tabung Haji (LTH) and Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT).

“If [the GLICs] get better capacity to deploy that liquidity, they become another engine of domestic direct investment (DDI) growth for Malaysia,” he elaborates on the thinking behind the Government-Linked Entities Activation and Reform Programme (GEAR-uP).

That RM1.8 trillion in liquidity at GLICs was also highlighted by Anwar on Aug 7 during a briefing on the GEAR-uP programme at the Finance Ministry.

“Achieving the ambitious targets of the Ekonomi Madani framework demands a unified effort from the entire nation - including the corporate sector. By getting the GLICs to heighten their focus on domestic investments, this deployed capital can benefit Malaysians equitably and birth new economic ecosystems,” Anwar said in a statement.

In his interview with The Edge, Amir Hamzah also touched on plans to grow Malaysia’s intergenerational wealth fund Kumpulan Wang Amanah Negara (KWAN).

To know what Amir Hamzah has to say about KWAN, efforts to improve its fiscal space and other issues, including the retargeting of RON95 subsidies, pick up a copy of the Aug 12, 2024 issue of The Edge Malaysia weekly at newsstands or save by subscribing to your own print and/or digital copy. 

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