This is reinforced by a dedicated focus on the vulnerable segments of the society, such as how to plan for retirement, the importance of living within one’s means and behaviours that can lead one into high indebtedness. These programmes are delivered to consumers in the workplace and colleges. Our collaboration with employers has proven to be particularly effective in delivering financial education on responsible financial management. Under this approach, strategic alliances have been forged by the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency with more than 200 organisations in Malaysia to deliver financial capability programs at the workplace. Equal emphasis is given to developing the enabling infrastructure to support the effective delivery of financial capability initiatives. In Malaysia, the meaningful access to financial education contents and tools, a rigorous assessment framework and an effective partnership that involves the Government, educators, non-Governmental organisations and the financial industry form the vital components of the enabling ecosystem to support the overall financial education strategies. In many instances, changes in consumer behaviour are needed for the intended benefits to be realised. In Malaysia this is the case in the efforts to promote e-payment as a means of improving economic efficiency, productivity and competitiveness. Central to this agenda has been the implementation of various financial education initiatives to encourage changes in consumer behaviour and to inspire confidence in the use of e-payments.
Therefore, the inflation outlook in two years may be viewed as a derived objective in monetary policy. In some situations, where unexpected events lead to an inflation rate that is too high, it may be appropriate to apply a longer time horizon than two years. For example, reducing inflation to 2½ per cent within this time horizon may be associated with unnecessary real economic costs. A precondition for applying a longer time horizon is that there is clear evidence of strong confidence in low and stable inflation over time on the part of economic agents. Gradually, as we gain experience with setting interest rates according to an inflation target, the possibilities for placing emphasis on stability in the real economy will probably increase. Low and stable inflation is a necessary precondition for stability in the foreign exchange and financial market and the property market. However, there have also been episodes where bubbles have accumulated in these markets, in the form of sharp increases in asset prices, while inflation has been low. Price increases in property and financial markets may have a considerable impact on wage growth and consumer price inflation after a period. When the bubbles burst, the result may be an economic downturn. In this way, developments in financial and property markets may be a source of a more unstable inflation environment. In principle, it would be appropriate to use the interest rate to counter this. In practice, however, it is difficult to assess whether price trends in property and financial markets are sustainable.