Ditch lockdowns to revive economy, say experts

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PETALING JAYA: Economists are calling for an end to the current lockdown and a search for ways to avoid future ones, saying these are the most important short-term measures to ensure Malaysia’s ability to rebound from the economic devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With most of Malaysia’s economic sectors still closed under the first two phases of the national recovery plan, many doubt the country’s ability to show meaningful recovery this year.

At the start of the year, there were projections that GDP growth would be between 6% and 7%, but these have been downgraded since strict restrictions were imposed in May.

In this second part of FMT’s series on the economy, Geoffrey Williams of the Malaysian University of Science and Technology and Carmelo Felito of the Center for Market Education weigh in on what are the short- and medium-term policy changes the country needs to make.

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