March 10 Stimulus Package ...It is too late already

It is very scary to read the news below.

Malaysian government has not been doing the things that they should. When other countries such as Hong Kong and Singapore has churned out more and and more stimulus package to stimulate the economy, our politician especially Najib as a capacity as Finance Minister has been busy politicking around instead of concentrating his effort to tackle the bad economy .

First stimulus package is basically nothing for Malaysian as most of the money has not been disbursed out and worst still the second one can only out in March 10? Why not Feb 10 instead?

Najib, when will you start listening to the rakyat and understand the woes of the grass roots?

Don't you know that so far 80,000 people has been out of jobs already as mentioned by datuk Noraini Ahmad the deputy Human Resource Minister?

http://www.sinchew-i.com/node/74900?tid=3

Again you will not get to read the news in Utusan Malaysia as they are still painting the good picture about Malaysia economy

Malaysia’s exports down sharply in December

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Malaysia's exports fell 14.9 percent in December from a year ago, the steepest drop in seven years, as the global economic downturn bit into the heavily trade-dependent Southeast Asian economy.

"Never before have we seen these kind of numbers, both the December industrial output and export data were below market expectations," said Wan Suhaimi at Kenaga investment bank.

"I think the worst is yet to come. The first quarter will be pretty bad given the fact the momentum of the downturn will continue," he said.

The export decline was far steeper than the 10 percent forecast by economists in a Reuters poll as demand for Asian goods from the United States and China collapsed.

Imports in December were also much worse than expected, falling 23.1 percent, government data showed on Thursday. Economists had expected imports to decline 13.7 percent.

Malaysia had pinned its hopes of weathering the global economic turmoil on Asian markets, especially China, remaining relatively strong, but Asia's economies have been hit hard recently as Western economies worsen.

Malaysian exports have been on a downward slide from since October, hurt by eroding demand the world over for its key electronics exports and falling prices for its main commodities exports -- crude and palm oil.

Analysts expect the export and factory output slump to continue, possibly leading to a contraction in gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2009.

China on Wednesday announced that exports in January fell 17.5 percent from a year earlier, after a 2.8 percent dip in December, while imports plunged 43.1 percent -- twice as much as the month before.

Malaysia is Asia's third most trade dependent economy after Hong Kong and Singapore and its exports to China fell 29.8 percent to 3.68 billion Malaysian ringgit ($1.02 billion).

Malaysias's electronics sector saw its overseas sales drop 2.56 percent from a year ago.

"We will see this kind of dire data for the next few months. I think by the end of the year, in the fourth quarter, there may be a slight recovery but its not going to be a V-shaped recession," said Irvin Seah, economist at DBS Bank in Singapore.

Malaysia's government is reportedly working on a second economic stimulus package as it tries to steer the economy away from a widely anticipated recession.

Its first spending package unveiled late last year totalled 7 billion ringgit ($1.9 billion) and economists expect the new fiscal boost to be worth 7-10 billion ringgit.

Malaysia's government still forecasts economic growth of 3.5 percent this year, although most private sector economists say growth is likely to be closer to zero.
December exports totalled 46.09 billion ringgit ($12.80 billion), while imports fell 23.1 percent from a year earlier to 34.42 billion ringgit.
In November, exports fell 4.9 percent on year to 51.8 billion ringgit.
The trade surplus in December totalled 11.67 billion ringgit, compared to an expected 9.5 billion ringgit. (Reporting by Soo Ai Peng, Niluksi Koswanage and Razak Ahmad; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Kim Coghill)