Malaysia announced a new five-year development plan on Thursday to rein in its growing fiscal deficit and boost the country's goal of becoming a developed nation by 2020, according to dpa. Under the 10th Malaysia Plan, the government revealed that a total 230 billion ringgit (70 billion dollars) would be allocated over the next five years for development expenditure. Prime Minister Najib Razak forecast average economic growth of 6 per cent annually until 2015. Growth has averaged 4.2 per cent annually in the last five years, below the government's 6-per-cent target. Najib also said the government is committed to narrowing its budget deficit to below 3 per cent of the gross domestic product by 2015, from 5.3 per cent this year, but did not give details on how it plans to accomplish it. In his speech to Parliament, Najib said the government would continue a decades-old affirmative action programme to ensure the majority ethnic Malays control 30 per cent of corporate wealth by 2020. However, Najib said the policies would be market-friendly, transparent and based on merit, adding that all parties needed to give their fullest cooperation for the country to achieve its goal of a developed nation. "For a football team to succeed, all players in the team, irrespective of their position, need to work together and play as a team," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency. "However great the footballers are as individual players, victory can only be achieved as a team. Each individual team member is a valuable asset and everyone's potential must be optimised to achieve success," he said. Out of the 320 billion ringgit allocated for the plan, about 55 per cent would be spent on economic development, 30 per cent to boost the social sector, 10 per cent for security and 5 per cent for general administration. Najib also said the country aims to woo private investment worth 115 billion ringgit (35 billion dollars) a year to meet its goal of growing investment at 12.8 per cent a year.
