Media Statement

CME: Should We Welcome the Interest Rate Increase? THURSDAY 12 MAY: Yesterday, 11 May 2022, Bank Negara Malaysia unexpectedly raised its benchmark interest rate from an historic low, to cool inflationary pressures as the country continues to recover from the Great Lockdown. BNM raised its overnight policy rate to 2 per cent from a record […]

IDEAS and CME: Where Did the Policy Debate Go? WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 2022: The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) and the Center for Market Education (CME) express concerns over the limited debate surrounding issues of political economy and the long-term consequences of implemented policies. IDEAS and CME observe that a positive and vibrant

CME: WAGES SHOULD BE DETERMINED BY THE MARKET, FOCUS ON EDUCATION AND LABOUR REFORMS TUESDAY 5 APRIL: The Center for Market Education (CME) released its Policy Paper No 4, Why Monetary Policy Should Not Avoid Market Price Deflation, authored by Philipp Bagus (Professor of Economics at University King Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain) and Carmelo Ferlito

CME: WAGES SHOULD BE DETERMINED BY THE MARKET, FOCUS ON EDUCATION AND LABOUR REFORMS MONDAY 7 FEBRUARY 2022: The debate about minimum wage in Malaysia has emerged once again and it is now particularly important at the light of two important facts: 1) mean monthly wages and salaries fell by 9% in 2020, while the median

CME: WHAT TO DO WITH RISING PRICES WEDNESDAY, 24 November 2021: Serious concerns are emerging in Malaysia about rising prices of basic food items such as chicken (https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/11/22/act-on-all-time-high-prices-of-chicken-and-eggs-says-najib/) and vegetables (https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/11/23/consumer-group-wants-govt-to-act-on-rising-veggie-prices/ and https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2021/11/24/vegetable-prices-to-stay-high-until-after-cny/). The Center for Market Education (CME) started to ring the alarm bell on inflation last March (https://marketedu.org/media-statement/cme-baa-macroeconomic-observatory-meo-inflation-developments-have-to-be-closely-monitored) and repeated the warning just before the tabling of

CME: DO NOT IGNORE INFLATION WHEN PREPARING BUDGET 2022 TUESDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2021: The Center for Market Education (CME) invites the government to seriously take into account the issues of inflation and stagflation when preparing Budget 2022. “Lockdowns have generated supply-side shocks, which are now pushing up prices of transports and commodities. However, the additional money

CME PROPOSES THE PILLARS FOR A BALANCED TAX REFORM MONDAY, 27 September 2021: Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced that the government is considering a windfall tax and a capital gain tax to support federal revenues in a moment of difficulty. “This should be an occasion – explained Dr Carmelo Ferlito, CEO of

CME: RAISING THE STATUTORY DEBT LIMIT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA SUNDAY, 5 September 2021: Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced that he will propose to raise the statutory debt limit to 65 per cent from the current 60 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). “Economic History teaches us that

CME POLICY PAPER: WHERE IS THE MALAYSIAN ECONOMY HEADING? MONDAY, 30 August 2021: The American economist Thomas Sowell is used to repeat that, in policy making, there are no solutions but only trade-offs. In a newly published policy paper, Inflation, Unemployment and COVID-19 Policies: Where Is The Malaysian Economy Heading?, authored by Dr Carmelo Ferlito, Fariq

CME SUPPORTS A GOVERNMENT OF PEACE TO FACE THE WAR WEDNESDAY, 18 August 2021: With the fall of the Perikatan Nasional government, the Center for Market Education (CME) supports the idea of a new government characterized by political peace in order to fight the healthcare and economic crises which Malaysia is facing. CME believes that