The Star quoted Mr Lim Seng Gim, the Finance Ministry's macroeconomics head, as saying that private investment growth will continue to be the main driver for the Malaysian economy, which is anticipated to expand between 5% and 6% in 2012.

Mr Lim said private investment in the country is estimated to hit MYR 113 billion in 2012 as compared with a forecast of MYR 94 billion in 2011. He added that "This will be spurred by flows from the implementation of various projects under the Economic Transformation Program and investments in Iskandar Malaysia in Johor."

Mr Lim noted that Malaysia's gross domestic product is forecast to grow by 5% to 5.5% 2011. He added that "Private investments had reached about MYR 75 billion during the first three quarters of 2011. We are on track to hit more than MYR 90 billion in private investments this year."

He said there were 14 ongoing high impact projects in Malaysia worth MYR 38.2 billion, including developments in the oil and gas sector as well as the My Rapid Transit.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund has projected Malaysia's economy to grow by 5.2% in 2011 and 5.1% in 2012.

(Sourced from www.thestar.com.my)