Koon Yew Yin 17 April 2023
Just about 5 months in power, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has made whirlwind tours to eight countries, namely – Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Cambodia and China.
Anwar’s main aim is to remove all trade barriers between Malaysia and other countries to encourage more trade for mutual benefit.
During his short visit to China on 30th March, he has secured a historic commitment of RM170 billion in investments from China. He expects President Xi Jinping will help to complete the High Speed Rail between KL and Singapore.
Malaysia is the second palm oil producer in the world next to Indonesia.
According to the Malaysian Palm Oil Council, Malaysia accounts for 28% of world oil palm production and 33% of world exports. Between 2018 and 2019, crude palm oil production’s growth, rising from 19.52 million tons to 19.86 million tons. As of the end of June 2020, about 96% of close to 4.06 million hectares of land under oil palm cultivation had obtained MSPO certification (MPOC, 2020), in which almost 17% of the total oil palm planted area is owned by an independent smallholder (Parveez et al., 2020).
An independent smallholder is defined as an individual who own land less than 40.46 hectares or 100 acres in aggregate. Thus, their inclusiveness in the development of the MSPO standard was crucial to balance out the trade-off between strictness and attainability for certification (MPOB, 2015).
Malaysia is the 16th largest oil and gas producer in the world.
Since 1974, Malaysia has produced 9 billion barrels of oil and 50 trillion cubic feet of gas. Currently, Malaysia produces 660,000 barrels of liquids and approximately 7.0 billion cubic feet of gas per day.
PETRONAS has maintained its position as the world’s strongest Oil and Gas (O&G) brand for the third consecutive year, according to Brand Finance’s 2022 annual report on the most valuable and strongest O&G brands.
The above chart shows that our GDP growth rate has been dropping from 12% in 1973 to 4.5% due to corruption.
Malaysia is the 2nd largest palm oil producer and 16th largest Oil & Gas producer in the world.
The above chart shows Malaysia recorded 14.2% GDP growth rate in the last quarter, highest in history, since Anwar became Prime Minister. Our GDP should continue to grow rapidly if Anwar can continue to reduce or stop corruption.
