KUCHING: There are two clear messages from the RM250billion People-Centric Economic Stimulus Package (Prihatin): Curb the negative impact of Covid-19 on the economy, and the people need to spend in order to boost up the economy.
That’s how Associate Professor Dr Evan Lau from the Faculty of Economics and Business of University Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) puts it.
He said the package was a short-term measure to stimulate economic growth by driving higher private consumption in the form of spending, to weather the Covid-19 pandemic and safeguard the wellbeing of the people.
“This package would increase the disposable income, for example cash assistance, where they should spend domestically to spur the economy. The simple ‘supply and demand’ analogy works here,” he said.
He said that with the money, individuals would consume and demand, while suppliers would be able to provide goods and services to the people.
“In this sense, the economy wheel keeps moving, which is the domestic economy needs to move forward. The stimulus package has given the people a grace period of at least six months to adjust to the new normal,” he told New Sarawak Tribune yesterday.
Lau expressed confidence in the stimulus package, and hoped that implementation would be rapid and effective.
He said Malaysia is not the only country to have such an economic package: “Countries around the world have embarked on an unprecedented level of fiscal expansion in the form of stimulus packages as government intervention to mitigate the impact on the slowdown of the economy.” he said.
Lau said that the synchronised stimulus packages around the world were timely at this juncture for a short-term injection into economies.
