KL cuts overseas training stints

KL cuts overseas training stints

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Fewer Malaysian government workers will be sent abroad for training because of expenditure cuts brought on by the currency devaluation, the country's top bureaucrat said yesterday.

Instead, more domestic training centers will be created, federal Chief Secretary Abdul Halim was quoted as saying by the national news agency Bernama.

"We have over four thousand civil servants and students abroad currently," said Dalilah Abdul Majid, spokeswoman for the Public Services Department, which funds training programs for bureaucrats.

"We'll still be sending, but in far fewer numbers."

Malaysia has said it could withstand the crisis that has made all foreign exchange more expensive, but officials have been asked to cut costs and the Finance Ministry has put many expensive civil works on hold.