KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 — The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) rules are largely in line with Malaysia’s liberalisation process and masterplans, CIMB-Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) Chair Professor Prof Dr Salim Rashid said.
He said the TPPA largely conformed to the ongoing Capital Markets Masterplan, as well as the Financial Services Masterplan.
“Malaysia has already made considerable strides in its efforts to be a substantially open economy,” he told a public lecture entitled ‘Evaluating the TPPA: Its Impact on the Banking Industry in Malaysia’, here today.
Rashid said Bank Negara Malaysia wielded considerable power to intervene in the event that the balance of payments or the currency were under threat.
He proposed to Malaysian banks to reenact the East-Asian model, which was popularised by the World Bank.
As TPPA is meant to encourage real economic growth and as finance serves the real sector, he said there is also a positive role that Malaysian banks can play.
“One path that was popularised by the World Bank is the East-Asian model. However, it is now closed as it was based on the state being an activist in banking and finance.
“But an activist state can be replaced with activist banks who will undertake to initiate and monitor innovative projects to increase the Malaysian growth rate,” he added. — Bernama
