Perdana Magazine 2014-2015 | Page 14

CEO Forum 2014 concurren t session c “A crisis resilience scorecard for Malaysia” moderator Tan Sri Dato’ Seri Haji Megat Najmuddin Datuk Seri Dr Haji Megat Khas | President, MICG “In terms of subsidies, they are still kicking the can down the road. There is no political will (to reduce subsidies). It is draining the Government coffers. We are talking about RM30 billion a year for fuel subsidies. The Government must make a hard and fast decision and bite the bullet to ensure subsidies go to the right category of people”. panellists Dato’ Charon Wardini Mokhzani | Managing Director of Khazanah Research Institute and Executive Director Khazanah Nasional Berhad “One big theme at the moment is income inequality...Malaysia has income inequality. However, the Statistics Department and World Bank data show that our income inequality has not worsened over the last 20 years whereas other countries’ inequality have worsened. As such Malaysia is not as bad as other countries. But a possible cause of the next crisis could be income inequality.” 14 | P e r d a n a M a g a z in e 2 0 1 5 Dato’ Steven CM Wong | Deputy Chief Executive, ISIS “Today, the entry-level salary for the banking sector is about RM2,600 – RM2,700. Salaries have hardly doubled in thirty years at the entry level. If we go by MEF’s (Malaysian Employers Federation) survey on salaries, there’s a disparity in the increase in salaries at the top and at entry levels...If the current wage remains the same, of course, you won’t be able to get people to fill positions. Does this mean we have a shortage of workers? It means we have a shortage at that particular price point, no more and no less than that.” Mr Nor Zahidi Alias | Chief Economics, Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad “When compared with other countries, we are not too bad in terms of our growth profile. In terms of economic structure, one of the concerns is that Malaysia is overly dependent on a particular economic sector. This issue was brought up in July 2013 when an international rating agency downgraded their outlook (not their rating) on Malaysia.”