Oil Price Slump Will Not Hinder AEC Take Off, Says Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 27 (Bernama) -- The global slump in oil prices will not have an adverse effect towards the realisation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC), International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said. He described the Brent crude oil price fall to US$48 a barrel until Monday as temporary. "When I was in Davos for the World Economic Forum annual meeting recently, many leaders concurred that this situation will last for six months and there will be a correction in the second half of the year, and the price will likely rebound, not up to US$100, but between US$60-US$70 a barrel. "If this were to happen, it will be a bonus to us," he said at a media briefing on the AEC here Tuesday. Hence, with the economic recovery expected in the second half of the year, Mustapa believes that the establishment of the AEC would come to fruition by year-end. On the status of the AEC, he said 80.7 per cent or 334 of the 414 Asean-wide measures targeted in phase I-III (2008-2013) had been implemented until December 2014, while in phase IV (2014-2015), 38.7 per cent or 82 of the 212 measures had been carried out. He said Malaysia had implemented 85.5 per cent or 372 of the 435 measures targeted in phase I-III, while in phase IV, 43.8 per cent or 95 of 217 measures were met. "The AEC is still in progress and the Asean member states are targeting to complete 95 per cent of the integration measures by the end of 2015. "We know and we have agreed among Asean ministers that it is impossible for us to achieve the 100 per cent (target) because of domestic constraints. And they cannot be accomplished in the near term. God willing, we will meet 95 per cent (of the target)," he said. Calling on Malaysians, including small and medium enterprises, not to be unduly worried over the AEC, he said its implementation would benefit the country as all liberalising measures would not be carried out abruptly. Mustapa said Malaysia reiterated the need for the Asean Secretariat to be beefed up in view of the wide-ranging agenda of the grouping. "While in Davos, we all agreed on the need to upgrade the Asean Secretariat's credibility because it is very important in charting the direction of the Asean community as a whole," he said. On seamless travelling in Asean by 2020, Mustapa said, "It is still being discussed among the members, but we have yet to reach any consensus on this." On Malaysia's economy, he said that as a mature economy, the country had performed quite well last year. It has been reported recently that Malaysia is able to achieve the government's growth forecast of between 4.5 and 5.5 per cent this year as its economic fundamentals are strong. -- BERNAMA