News in Brief

ADB : Malaysia’s GDP to grow 4.5% in 2010

This looks like in tandem with our deputy Prime Minister’s announcement, as Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced that it expects Malaysia’s economy to return to growth in 2010.

According to a report by The Star Newsapper, the international development finance institution has forecast Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 4.5% next year.

It said Malaysia was expected to contract 2.5% in 2009 after registering minus 5.1% in the first half of the year and minus 1.2% in the third quarter.

The newspaper also noted that in a separate Asian Economic Monitor report for December 2009, the Manila-based institution said all the Asean-4 economies were pummeled by the precipitous drop in external demand but in terms of overall economic impact, Thailand and Malaysia were hurt the most.

700 Dell workers To Go with VSS

All is still not that well. Dell Malaysia is letting some 700 workers go via a voluntary separation scheme (VSS) exercise.

According to a report by The Star newspaper, the 700 include those in the operator, supervisory and managerial positions at its Bukit Minyak plant here.

Dell corporate communication senior manager Jasmine Begum said the VSS scheme was being implemented because Dell was transferring the division that manufactured notebooks for Latin America, Canada and US markets to the group’s global manufacturing network.

“This means that the Bukit Minyak plant will only manufacture notebooks, desktops and servers for the South Asian and Australian markets,” she said.

The move would enable Dell Malaysia to be more cost-effective in its operations, reduce delivery time and enhance the quality of the products manufactured, Begum said.

Construction workers available

Need construction workers? No problem, there are more than 32,000 available for choosing. According to The Star newspaper a force of 12,000 foreign workers and over 10,000 locals registered with the Construction Labour Exchange Centre Bhd (CLAB) can be deployed to any contractor short of manpower.

CLAB chief executive Azlan Mohd Isa said there was no reason for contractors not to make use of them.

He said the 22,000 workers were involved in construction projects throughout the country but were available when their jobs were done.

“We encourage contractors to come to us because it is cheaper to source labour through us than through agents.

“If contractors’ needs do not match our local work pool, we will look to the foreign workforce to fulfil their needs. The aim is to reduce the intake of new foreign workers,” he said.

“Workers registered with us get insurance and compensation benefits and we provide comprehensive welfare to our workers,” Azlan said.

Malaysia & Iran in HR Co-operations

Malaysia and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on increasing cooperation in human resource and technical skills in Tehran recently.

Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr. S. Subramaniam met with his Iranian counterpart during his four-day visit to Iran .

The visit was upon the invitation by Iranian Labour and Social Affairs Minister Abdolreza Sheikholeslami.

It also said the cooperation complemented the efforts of both governments in exploring new markets, which included working together in the fields of labour and technical and vocational training.

The Iranian minister further called on the two states to promote cooperation in the International Labor Organization (ILO)

EPF retirement Increases in third quarter

Despite caution about income indequacy post-retirement, the withdrawal have increased last quarter. According to Bernama report, some RM1.97bil was withdrawn under the Employees Provident Fund Retirement Withdrawals in the third quarter of 2009, an increase from the RM1.64bil in the corresponding period last year.

Some RM1.41bil of the RM1.97bil, was withdrawn as Lump Sum Age 55 Withdrawal, up 14.2% from that in Q3 2008, EPF said in a statement on its unaudited results on Wednesday.

EPF chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said the remaining RM557.05mil was withdrawn under the Flexible Age 55 Withdrawal, up 38.05% from the RM403.51mil last year.

“Nonetheless, 72% of retirement withdrawals still consist of lump sum withdrawals. We hope to see this amount decrease over time as more members become increasingly aware that lump sum withdrawal will likely lead to income inadequacy during retirement,” he said.

The report also quoted Azlan as saying members had exercised greater prudence and care in making withdrawals for housing as showed by a more cautious behaviour due to the present economic conditions.