Speech by YAB Tuan Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of Penang, at the Penang International Property Conference
on 5 August 2016.
I wish to thank the organizer of this event, the Penang State Housing Committee and Penevents Sdn Bhd, for organizing this mid-term review of the Penang International Property (PIP) Summit Conference. I am pleased to be here once again to give all of you an over-view of what has happened where the State’s initiative to attract investment which will have an impact on the property sector and what is to be expected in the next few months before we draw a close to 2016.
Malaysia has been buffeted by economic headwinds some due to the global economic slowdown such as the sharp drop in oil prices, others self-inflicted such as the RM50 billion 1MDB scandal that caused the Ringgit to plummet in value and the imposition of GST. GST should only be imposed on high-income countries like Singapore. Middle income countries take at least 2-3 years to recover and the timing is poorly planned and a failure of policy management. Thailand has GST and its economy has performed poorly. Singapore has managed to weather the ill-effects as a high-income economy. Whilst many external factors have impeded Malaysia as a whole, Penang remains resilient, helped by the manufacturing and services sector as well as increase in tourism. Continue reading “Speech by YAB Tuan Lim Guan Eng, Chief Minister of Penang, at the Penang International Property Conference(e/c)”