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  Household income survey includes non-salary income , return on investment:Wahid Omar	12 Sep, 2014	0 Comments	Author:	Bernama	The preliminary report on the 2014 Household Income Survey undertaken by the government which indicated that the average household income, or mean, surpassing RM5,900 a month, included non-salary income as well as return on investment in various instruments such as unit trust.
  Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar said the figure, however, was not the real reflection of the overall household income in Malaysia and could be significantly skewed by those who have higher income.
  He said the median or value at the midway point stood at RM4,258, meaning that half of Malaysia's seven million households earned more than RM4,258 while the remaining earned below that, which provided a better picture of the household income in Malaysia.
  "The percentage of households earning less than RM3,000 also had declined to 28 per cent compared with 38.7 per cent in 2012," he said to reporters after launching the Media Appreciation ceremony organised by the Department of Statistics Malaysia here today.
  He said poverty had also been significantly reduced, whereby the number of households earning below the poverty line was cut by 38,000 to 70,000 households as of June this year as compared to 108,000 households in 2012.
  Meanwhile, Abdul Wahid said the ratio of wages to the gross domestic product (GDP), which expanded to 33.6 per cent last year compared with 29.3 per cent in 2008, was a positive indicator of the government's efforts to turn Malaysia into a high-income nation.
  "This showed that income through salary has increased 8.0 per cent a year compared with the economic growth which increased around 5.1 per cent a year.
  "This gave an important meaning in the context of microeconomy, where we want to ensure that when productivity increases, the rakyat is given higher salary compared with the earnings achieved by companies," he said.
  He said the ratio of wages to the GDP can still be improved further and the level that is comfortable for the economy to expand and maintain competitiveness was at 40 per cent.
  "The 33.6 per cent is higher than most other countries but still low compared with developed countries such as Singapore (41 per cent) and the US and UK (over 50 per cent)," he said.
  He said the government had no plans to increase the ratio of wages to the GDP to 50 per cent as at that level the country would lose its competitiveness.
  He added that countries that had ratio of wages to the GDP of more than 50 per cent such the UK also had high income tax regime.
  "Based on our observation, maybe the rate of 40 per cent represents the optimum rate that we want to target.
  "But this cannot be increased overnight and must be very careful as salary increase must be supported by productivity increase," he said.
  Based on research by the Statistics Department, the ratio of gross operating surplus of companies to the GDP last year was at 64.2 per cent while the ratio of tax less subsidies on production and imports was at 2.2 per cent.
  According to the department, the services sector was the biggest contributor to salary at 60.9 per cent, followed by manufacturing (23.1 per cent), construction (9.1 per cent), agriculture (5.2 per cent) and mining and quarry activities (1.7 per cent). Add new comment Property players hit by cooling measures	12 Sep, 2014	0 Comments	Author:	R Kamalavacini	Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (Rehda) is urging the government to re-look and ease some of the cooling measures on the property sector in Budget 2015 as these are hurting a majority of property developers.
  Its president Datuk Seri Fateh Iskandar Mohamed Mansor (picture)said property sales nationwide dipped slightly in the first-half (1H) of 2014 despite growing demand due to the government's cooling measures.
  In fact, he said Rehda's Property Industry Survey 1H 2014 revealed that close to 90% of property developers experienced a slowdown, although the numbers of unsold units were manageable.
  Most developers also reported that the overall costs of doing business have increased up to 20% in the 1H.
  Among the cooling measures affecting the sales were the 70% loan-to-value ratio, the impending implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), higher Real Property Gains Tax, lending guidelines, prohibition of Developer Interest Bearing Scheme and the maximum loan tenure cap at 35 years.
  "With GST in place, the supply will slow down while the demand will outgrow the supply for the next one or two years. This is due to fewer new launches by the developers," said Fateh Iskandar at a media briefing on Rehda's Property Industry Survey 1H 2014 yesterday.
  Fateh Iskandar said the 2H of 2014 will see pent-up demand for properties as most of the developers will be launching their respective projects before GST.
  "This doesn't mean that we are against GST, we welcome GST implementation. However, there are still grey areas that need to be rectified, otherwise the property developers will bleed. Also we are expecting property prices to increase by 3% to 4% after GST implementation," he said.
  Rehda deputy president Datuk Soam Heng Choon said the main struggle will be between developers and Royal Malaysia Customs Department.
  "In property, there is zero-rated and standard-rated mechanism. There are not many issues between the developers and buyers since residential properties are zero-rated.
  "Once GST is implemented, the 6% tax will be imposed on various aspects of property de-
  velopment such as land cost, material cost, labour cost and so forth. Somehow, somebody must pay the 6% tax as we cannot push the 6% tax burden to the buyers," he explained.
  Soam also expressed dissatisfaction over the rules set by Customs that joint-venture companies cannot not register for GST tax exempt except for oil and gas companies. Property developers will definitely feel the pinch, added Soam.
  Meanwhile, Fateh Iskandar explained that financing difficulty was another important factor as many Malaysians could not even purchase affordable homes due to the central bank's "responsible lending" exercise.
  "Banks should re-look at the term 'responsible lending' to enable more middle income Malaysians to own a property as it is the biggest wealth creation ever that one can own," he said, adding that the property sector makes up 40% of loan disbursements and contributes substantially to the gross domestic product.
  He also said the residential market is still driven by domestic buyers purchasing for their own stay.
  "Generally, developers are neutral to pessimistic on the outlook of the property industry in the 2H of 2014 with the level of pessimism expected to increase in the 1H of 2015. Prices of new launches are expected to remain stable.
  "At the same time, we urge the government to seriously look into this matter as to come up with mechanisms that would help the industry in the upcoming Budget 2015," he concluded.
  Add new comment GE upbeat on energy savings with improved gas turbine	12 Sep, 2014	0 Comments	Author:	Kavithah Rakwan GENERAL Electric (GE) Power and Water, a division of General Electric Co, said it is confident on securing at least 50% of power projects in Malaysia following the introduction of its newly improved 9EMax gas turbine. GE Power and Water Asia Pacific's president Ramesh Singaram said this estimation is modest considering the vast amount of efficiency saving and other benefits that would attract a great deal of customers. "The 9EMax can deliver up to 143MW of power and up to 37% efficiency in simple cycle operations. "For combined cycle operation, the 9EMax could deliver up to 210MW and up to 53% efficiency," Singaram told reporters at the Power Gen Asia annual trade conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. The new 9EMax gas turbines are expected to elevate the output and efficiency of the existing 9EMax gas turbines. The improved gas turbines are expected to open as much as RM19.2 million in new annual revenue opportunities per unit upgrade and as much as RM16 million in annual fuel savings.
  Besides providing highest economic value, Singaram said that the new 9EMax would support in meeting the nation's projected 4GW to 5GW annual growth in energy demand through 2035 as well as in meeting the regulatory and environmental demands. "The gas turbines will complement efforts by the government in Malaysia to drive greater focus on efficient and clean energy.
  "This is especially timely, as Malaysia move towards reduction and eventual elimination of fuel and electricity tariff subsidies in light of its market liberation initiatives," he said. The 9EMax gas turbine will allow customers to generate up to 32,000 hours or 900 starts between scheduled maintenance inspections, a period of approximately four years for typical continuous-duty power plants. Singaram said the solution is particularly beneficial to the Asia Pacific countries that experience long periods of hot climate condition. "9EMax can be blended with GE's OpFlex advanced control- led software which could eliminate as much as 3% of output performance loss that can occur in extreme heat operating environments," Singaram said. GE has a 9E fleet nearing 100 units across Asia Pacific of which 26 units are currently in Malaysia. Add new comment KeTTHA expects to achieve RM1.2b of business deals at IGEM2014	12 Sep, 2014	0 Comments	Author:	Mokhriz Mokhtar	THE Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (KeTTHA) has targeted to achieve RM1.2 billion worth of potential business leads and transactions from the upcoming International Greentech and Eco Products Exhibition and Conference Malaysia 2014 (IGEM2014). Coming to its fifth consecutive year, IGEM2014 themed "Creating Green Wealth" this year will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre from Oct 16-19. The event is expected to further accelerate the growth and popularity of green technology adoption in the country through raising awareness and providing business opportunities. KeTTHA Deputy Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, who was at the preview launch of the event in Kuala Lumpur, said the IGEM platform was an important component for promoting green technology. "Stepping up our efforts, it is the objective of my ministry and our co-organisers, Malaysian Green Technology Corp and Expomal, to continually accelerate the growth and popularity of this much anticipated event, since the inaugural one in 2010," Mahdzir said. IGEM2014 will feature three main components which are the IGEM exhibition, IGEM conference and the Minister-Industry Dialogue.
  On the IGEM exhibition front, Mahdzir said nearly 200 exhibitors from over 14 countries have already confirmed their participation to showcase their products and services, representing 600 booths at the exhibition. China, Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and Taiwan are among the countries that will be participating in the event and 75% of the booths have been taken up out of the said amount. "The exhibition is thematically structured into an International Pavilion, the Malaysian States Pavilion and an Innovation Pavilion to provide visitors ease of accessibility to their preferred sectors. Additionally, there will also be dedicated zones for Green Energy, Eco-office and Eco- home for visitors who are interested to source for sustainable products," Mahdzir said. One of the highlights of IGEM2014 would be the Minister-Industry Dialogue that will provide opportunity for in-depth discussion between minister and industry players on green opportunities and strategies. This dialogue will serve as a platform for robust engagement with stakeholders to ad- dress key issues and pivotal elements of green economy in the region. Add new comment Selangor water deal signed 12 Sep, 2014	0 Comments	Author:	Our Reporter	SELANGOR Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim's political secretary Arfa'eza Aziz in her tweet today confirmed the signing of the Master Agreement to finalise the water restructuring deal in Selangor.Arfaezah using the tweethandle @arfaziz tweeted "@Khalid_Ibrahim sealed the Master Agreement ceremony with KeTTHa minister Datuk Dr. Max Ongkili."The signing ceremony took place at the Energy, Water and Green Technology Ministry in Putrajaya today between the Selangor government and Putrajaya.
  Under the newly signed Selangor water deal, Putrajaya will assist Selangor in de-privatising the industry while Selangor is to approve Putrajaya's RM3.6 billion Langat 2 water treatment plant project.
  Back in August, the Selangor state government and Putrajaya signed the heads of government agreement that sealed the exercise but according to news reports, PKR and DAP were unhappy with the wording of the agreements.
  It is said that Selangor is expected to sign agreements to buy over control in three of the four companies that currently treat and distribute a significant amount of the 3.9 billion litres a day that is used by about 7 million people.
  The three are Puncak Niaga Sdn Bhd (PNSB), Syabas and Abass, which will be taken over by state-owned Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Berhad.
  However, Klang MP Charles Santiago yesterday questioned the legality of the deal as he claimed that Khalid was a "caretaker mentri besar".
  It was reported that the DAP lawmaker restated that Khalid who was expelled from PKR on August 9 is a caretaker MB thus he should not be signing the water contract or any other contracts dealing with any of the state assets.
  Meanwhile, Selangor state legal adviser Datuk Nik Suhaimi Nik Sulaiman clarified that Khalid still had all the rights to carry out his full duties as a menteri besar although the negotiation on the new MB with the Sultan of Selangor is still ongoing. Add new comment More Articles...