Dr M: Malaysia's economic growth is very real

by **Cals** Wed 03 Apr 2013, 01:45

Dr M: Malaysia's economic growth is very real
Business & Markets 2013
Written by Sean Augustin of fz.com
Tuesday, 02 April 2013 19:02

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PETALING JAYA (April 2): Citing the hive of activity at the Subang airport, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad asserted Malaysia's economic growth was real.

"Only the blind and the deaf will maintain that it is not real," he wrote in his blog, chedet.cc today.

In pointing out more examples, Dr Mahathir said the rebuilding of Terminal 2 to cater to the needs of Firefly's turboprops and that of other local airlines; foreign manufacturers of helicopters such as Eurocopter and Cessna general aviation housing its servicing and engineering facilities in Subang.

He also cited how Asian airlines often sent their passenger jets to be serviced by Malaysian aerospace companies as proof of economic growth.

Dr Mahathir reasoned that "clearly a lot of investments" were going into the reactivating of Subang.

"It reflects the growth of the aerospace industries in Malaysia, which contributes toward Malaysia's economic growth," he wrote.

Last month Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said Malaysia's gross national income (GNI) per capita rose 49% since he took over the administration in 2009.

Najib said that GNI per capita had rose from US$6,670 (RM20,586.96) in 2009 to US$9,970 in 2011.

The opposition, in particular DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang took Najib to task, arguing that the World Bank showed that the figure was a more modest 16.2%.

Lim further pointed out that the GNI per capita growth during the same period was behind neighbouring Philippines (18.18%), Thailand (19%), Singapore (19.15%) and Indonesia (36.1%).