The Star Online: Business
The Star Online: Business |
- Plantations down in early trade
- Transformation is not all about income only
- Incentives needed for mining sector
| Plantations down in early trade Posted: 17 Mar 2013 06:38 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Plantations fell in early trade on Monday, with PPB Group and Kuala Lumpur Kepong among the decliners due to weaker regional markets and concerns over higher taxes on palm oil exports to the European Union and weaker regional market. At 9.21am, the FBM KLCI was down 6.50 points to 1,621.14. Turnover was 89.27 million shares valued at RM94.96mil. There were 88 gainers, 151 losers and 118 counters unchanged. PPB Group fell 18 sen to RM12.50, IJM Plantations 17 sen to RM3.11 and KL Kepong 16 sen lower at RM20.10 while FGV fell two sen to RM4.62. A news report said Malaysia could lose its Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) status in January 2014 which will lead to higher taxes on palm oil exports to the European Union. The reason is the EU has removed Malaysia from its list of developing countries. RHB Research Institute said there could be a transitional period when Malaysia has neither GSP nor FTA status, which could hamper palm oil shipment to the EU. "Having said that, come Jan 2014 there will be an additional 10m tonnes per annum of refining capacity in Indonesia. Competition among Indonesian refiners will boost Indonesia's domestic CPO price, resulting in Indonesian refiners having lower margin and have less ability to compete in terms of price against Malaysian refiners. "Although prospects of losing GSP status is negative for Malaysian refiners, we are not overly concerned as there are mitigating factors," it said. |
| Transformation is not all about income only Posted: 17 Mar 2013 06:37 PM PDT TRANSFORMATION is not all about income. Yes, income is the key part and we put a lot of emphasis on and look at ways and means to increase that, but we are equally aware that income must reach everyone. There must be inclusiveness in development that is, the drive towards achieving developed status by getting a per capita income of US$15,000 (RM46,795) a year by 2020 must include as many people as possible in that process. Importantly, we must develop at a pace which we can sustain over time without putting too much strain on our available resources, not rush at breakneck speed with no thought of the morrow. We must also give thought to the preservation of the environment and conservation in our development plans. These highlight the need to keep our development sustainable in addition to being inclusive. This balanced approach to development, which combines high income with sustainability and inclusiveness, is what provides us with a sense of perspective about development, the ultimate purpose of which is improve the quality of life for everyone. Many countries in their development programmes did not focus on the other aspects of development such as inclusiveness and sustainability. They paid the price for it with lop-sided development and an increasing gap between the rich and poor. We have much to do in this respect as our Gini Coefficient (a measure of the gap between rich and poor where low means greater income equality) is very high and we are taking measures to deal with this. In my last column, I wrote about why there was a pressing need for minimum wages. Some 3.2 million workers earn less than RM700 a month. When we set the minimum wage at RM900 per month for the peninsula and RM800 for Sabah and Sarawak it will have real impact on these workers because their wages will increase. Minimum wages directly help to reduce the income between the haves and have not's by ensuring that those who can afford to have labour pay a much fairer wage for that. That will directly help to close the income gap. The Government's payment through BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia) is a direct payment of RM500 to households with a monthly income of less than RM3,500. This year, the payment would involve an allocation of RM3bil while last year 4.1 million recipients received a total of RM2.1bil. That's just one of the many programmes that the Government has embarked on to help the poor and the needy. It has introduced the Klinik Rakyat to make health care more easily accessible and cheaper to the poor in cities and villages. It has introduced Kedai Rakyat 1 Malaysia to alleviate shopping expenses of the lower income group by encouraging these shops and supermarkets to stock food and other essential items at much lower prices then in the usual outlets. For workers whose lunch expenses are rising, we have had Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia to lower their daily meal costs. These do mean a lot to those whose income is constricted and who have trouble paying more as prices of things rise. Sometimes, the best way to help the poor, especially the very poor, is to simply give them the money to alleviate their suffering. That's far better than subsidies which help everyone, rich or poor. In addition to that, there are ongoing programmes for rural infrastructure to ensure that facilities in the more distant areas are up to mark and modern. We will continue to spend on the rural community. For the bumiputra community, we remain committed to increasing their participation in business through training, financial help and giving them priority for government jobs. The Government is able to do all these things because it has money. Money comes from better tax revenues and other income and depends on an overall healthy rate of wealth generation. Despite trying external circumstances, we are focused and have concentrated on certain areas of high economic growth to deliver continuing impetus towards wealth creation. This is already showing results with the economy continuing to grow around 5% a year. Last year, government revenue hit a record of RM207bil, a 12% increase or RM22bil more than in 2011. This extra income helps to give that leg up to the poor so that they can continue to move upwards and better their lot. We are of course still focused on reducing the budget deficit as a percentage of total GNP (gross national product goods and services produced in Malaysia at current prices plus net income from overseas). But because of our good financial position, we don't need to be austere, and while we remain prudent we will still do the needful to help the more unfortunate members of society in our midst. The economic transformation that we are going through will only be truly successful when we not only hit our income target of US$15,000 per person in 2020 but also when the increase in incomes lift most of our poor out of their predicament. In addition, we have to be inclusive of other segments of the population. Some examples of our affirmative actions include efforts to make sure that we help the rural population by building a record 3,349km of rural roads in the last three years. We are also working towards getting women to participate in the workforce, particularly holding managerial and leadership positions. To this end, our Prime Minister has set a target of ensuring that women hold at least 30% board membership in large publicly listed companies by 2015. The Government is also doing its best to get more economic participation of the minority groups such as small tribal groups in Sabah and Sarawak and the Orang Asli. Rest assured, we have not forgotten them in our pursuit of income and wealth. Indeed, our Prime Minister has been leading the country on a transformation path to become a high income economy by 2020, which is inclusive of all segments of the rakyat in a manner that is sustainable, not just for the present but future generation as well as in terms of the environment. I believe that this new economic model which Malaysia is pursuing is the way to go. ● Datuk Seri Idris Jala is CEO of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department. All fair and reasonable comment are welcome at idrisjala@pemandu.gov.my |
| Incentives needed for mining sector Posted: 17 Mar 2013 06:35 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: The Federal Government should introduce suitable incentives for the domestic mining sector to make it more cost-competitive to attract both local and foreign investors, according to Malaysian Chamber of Mines (MCOM) executive director Muhamad Nor Muhamad. Muhamad said the state governments, meanwhile, could offer support via a speedier decision-making process in the areas of applications, renewals of mining leases and exploration licences. In addition, state governments should make potentially mineral-rich lands "more" available for exploration and mining development, thus preventing sterilisation, he added. Muhamad told StarBiz that the country's mineral export-to-mineral import ratio currently stood at an outrageous 1:10. Therefore, Malaysia could make huge savings in terms of foreign exchange outflow if the mining sector could be further developed. Essentially, the Government should consider the mineral resource sector for inclusion into the National Key Economic Areas, given its important contribution to the country's gross domestic product. "This is more so when Malaysia has a mineral resource potential of some RM340bil at current prices that can be developed," noted Muhamad. He said one important factor that would drive the domestic mining sector this year would be the global mineral and metal prices environment. "Should prices of minerals be sustained at current levels or move higher, there would be greater buoyancy in the sector." In addition, there should be a more conducive operating business environment in the sector through the lowering of cost and ease of doing business," he added. On potential minerals that had yet to be fully exploited, Muhamad said: "MCOM sees plenty of rich coal deposits in east Malaysia, which if properly developed, can meet Malaysia's entire domestic requirements and even for export." The potential for base metals such as nickel, gold and copper was also seen in Sabah and the central belt of Peninsular Malaysia stretching from Kelantan to Johor. Over the years, there has generally been positive response from the mineral-rich state governments towards mining, as reflected by the encouraging numbers of mining leases and exploration licences and renewals granted lately. "However, there are still some areas requiring improvement, such as the duration of time taken in deciding on the granting of such applications and renewals. "Another critical area is the size of the mining leases granted, which currently tends to be limited to small areas and shorter lease periods, thus rendering mining uneconomical," Muhamad said. He pointed out that the trend in mining currently rendered the activity to be undertaken on a medium to large-scale basis. "There is not much room for undertaking small-scale mining," said Muhamad. One of the reasons is that there are not much rich secondary alluvial deposits available now. "Those that can be re-mined contain left-over deposits at low grades and high cost. "Other virgin secondary deposits are very deep-seated, requiring new technology, know-how and high capital cost," he explained. Therefore, having medium to large-scale mines would also mean better control, supervision and implementation by the authorities of the necessary environmental, safety and mine-rehabilitation requirements to enable a more sustainable form of mining. At the same time, Muhamad said the current information and data on Malaysia's mineral resource potential was outdated. "It would be necessary for these information and data to be suitably updated in order to draw investor interest to the domestic mining sector," said Muhamad. He suggested the renewed government reconnaissance mineral exploration programme be continued. This would result in more information and better knowledge on local mineral reserves potential, which is needed to attract more investment into mineral exploration and mining. In addition, the potential for development of "lode" or primary mineral deposits, particularly in the central belt of Peninsular Malaysia, was great. However, he said the development would require different kinds of technology, know-how and skills and would be very capital-intensive. Muhamad noted that the domestic mineral sector last year recorded a "somewhat" sustainable performance although not as great as in 2011 when metal and mineral prices were very buoyant. Going forward, he believes minerals and metal prices willd continue to sustain at current levels because of supply constraints globally. "There are unlikely to be many new big-scale mines being opened up in the near future. Those likely to be opened are smaller ones situated in developed countries in a high capital cost environment." |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Business To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan