KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — Bank Negara chief Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said today the country must focus on putting in place necessary measures to plug and prevent costly incidents of economic leakage in order to ensure growth.

When asked what changes she wants to see in the country, the head of the country’s central bank suggested the strengthening of institutions as one wish and added that wide-ranging reforms are already underway.

“Removing price distortion so that the economy work more efficiently, strengthening institutions so that we achieve a level of efficiency, other words, we want value for what we have created.

“In other words, there shouldn’t be any leakages that increase cost that are unnecessary so that we have an efficient of resources and that it goes areas where it can achieve the highest impact.

“Those are what we need to see and I believe we have the foundation to achieve that,” she told a packed hall at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel here during the “Malaysia’s Economic Agenda — Is it enough” forum at Invest Malaysia 2015.

Khazanah Nasional Berhad managing director Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar said there are “good plans” underway but it is important to not “avoid the tough decisions”.

“The accent is toughest toward the end. Reforms are not rocket science, we just need to do the simple things well,” he said.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar, who was also the former chief executive at the Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank), said the government should focus on “better communicating” its policies and engage more with ratings agencies.