Economic crisis 'govt's fault'

Economic crisis 'govt's fault'

KUALA LUMPUR (DPA): Malaysia's parliamentary opposition leader suggested yesterday the government's "sudden policy changes" were a main cause of investors losing confidence in the country's stock and financial markets.

Lim Kit Siang, secretary-general of the Democratic Action Party, also accused the government of creating an "intimidating, xenophobic atmosphere" by blaming foreign investors of manipulating the local market.

He urged the government "to take painful decisions to arrest economic overheating, promote structural changes and most important of all, avoid massive self-inflicted wounds, whether on the economy, currency or market."

Lim welcomed the government's decision to lift week-long trading restrictions on the stock market and to delay several mega infrastructural projects because of the weaker ringgit.