This is to ensure that existing and future talent is fully utilised, and skill-related underemployment is kept at bay. The question is then how can Malaysia mould its social protection system to better protect and empower its workers and citizens? We can consider this through the lens of the 4Cs: Coverage, Consolidation, Conditionalities, and Comprehensiveness. On coverage, social protection must be deepened and extended towards the growing segments of informal and self-employed workers. Meanwhile, currently fragmented and overlapping programmes should be consolidated and rationalised, so as to channel funds to meet new needs of society, for instance better retirement aid. We can also impose conditionalities for various programmes to boost incentives and improve targeting capacity. Finally, there is a need for comprehensive active labour market policies to cater to the looming possibility of labour re-deployment under the fourth industrial revolution. Maintaining planetary health for sustainable economic growth This brings me to our third point. In our quest to transition to a high-income economy, we must do so without losing sight of the goal of prospering, thriving and living sustainably. Since last year, we have had to deal with a negative global shock in the form of Covid-19. The pandemic has taken a heavy health and economic toll, with profound effects on poverty. At the same time, displacement and disruptions due to climate-related events such as storms, flooding and droughts have persisted and intensified.
Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus: Aiming high - navigating the next stage of Malaysia's development Keynote address by Ms Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus, Governor of the Central Bank of Malaysia (Bank Negara Malaysia), at the world Bank's Aiming High Webinar Series, 27 May 2021. * * * The Economist magazine recently published an article comparing the welfare of citizens across countries, based on a survey of various aspects of well-being. The title of the article was “Money really can buy happiness and recessions can take it away.” It maintained that citizens in highincome countries felt better off about their current life situation, have money for food, and access to good and affordable housing nearby. Quality of life is also better due to less tangible factors such as corruption not being widespread, feeling safe when walking alone at night, feeling well rested and having helped a stranger in the past month. Implicit in these findings is the idea that economic growth should go hand in hand with greater welfare. More than the dollars and cents of becoming wealthier, it is the improvements in the quality of life that countries aspire to achieve. And so, I was heartened to read in the World Bank’s Aiming High report that Malaysia is likely to transition to a high-income economy between 2024 and 2028. This panel discussion is thus very relevant to our situation, now more than ever. For Malaysia, the journey to become a high-income economy will not be easy.