Posted Date : 20 Jul 2011
Musings of a Financial Economist, an inaugural publication by Malaysian Rating Corporation Berhad (MARC) Chief Economist En. Nor Zahidi Alias, was launched at the MARC 2011 CEO Breakfast Forum held at Kuala Lumpur today.
Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (MIDA) Chairman, Tan Sri Dr. Sulaiman Mahbob and MARC Chairman En. Mohammad Abdullah were present to launch the publication, with an audience comprising chief executive officers, managing directors and company directors of prominent corporates and financial institutions bearing witness to the momentous event.
This session of the CEO Breakfast Forum, which had the topic “Ringing up the Investment Registers: Implications for the Macro Economy, Markets and Malaysians,” centered on investment-related issues, the competitiveness of Malaysia’s international trade and industry, as well as the implications of the investment surge on the macro economy, markets and Malaysian society in general.
Tan Sri Sulaiman, being one of two guest speakers, proffered his views from government’s perspective, whilst Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Senior Analyst in Economic Policy, Dr. Muhammed Abdul Khalid, enlightened participants with his ideas from the standpoint of an independent think tank-based researcher. En. Nor Zahidi then provided his views on a macro perspective as a financial economist.
MARC Chief Executive Officer En. Mohd Razlan Mohamed said in his speech, “Our forums have been organised with the main objective of raising society’s awareness of pertinent current issues affecting the capital markets and domestic economy as well as providing intellectual discourse to facilitate decision-making processes.” He added that this year’s forum topic is especially relevant in light of the government’s strong push for domestic and foreign investments to propel the economy to high-income status by 2020.
On the launch of the book, En. Mohd Razlan remarked, “It is our desire that this book will help to stimulate interest in the subject of economics among both professionals and non-professionals by increasing awareness of critical issues that have influenced our economic landscape over the past decade.”
Musings of a Financial Economist is an edited anthology comprising En. Nor Zahidi Alias’ past articles in Malaysian Business, Malaysia’s premier business magazine. The book’s insightful foreword was written by Yang Berhormat Dato’ Mukhriz Mahathir, Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry. These articles, dating as far back as 2002 when the author started a column with Malaysian Business, represent expressions of his thoughts on economic issues at the time of writing.
En. Nor Zahidi Alias is currently the Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of MARC. He commenced his career in research in 1988 when he joined a London-based market research firm in Cambridge, Massachusetts for two years. Prior to his current post in MARC, he was the head of research and chief economist of Alliance Merchant Bank Berhad between 2001 and 2006, and in 2007, he was made MCIS Zurich Insurance Bhd’s head of research.
Contacts:
Saw Leng Hean, +603-2082 2248 / lenghean@marc.com.my;
Nadia Nadira Mohd Ghazali, +603-2082 2212 / nadianadira@marc.com.my.
