PEKAN, MALAYSIA - The economic measures that will be announced today are to cushion off the effects of the world financial crisis, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said.

'My announcement tomorrow (today) will touch on several measures that are being taken, for example, by Bank Negara and several proposals to be made by the Government to reduce the impact of the world financial crisis.

'However, I will announce several other aspects during the winding-up session (in Parliament),' he told reporters at his Hari Raya open house at Dataran Pekan yesterday.

Also present was his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

Najib said he was confident that Malaysia would not face an economic depression following the economic crisis currently faced by the United States and European countries.

'There is certainly an impact (on the country due to the world financial crisis), but we can still hold on, and Malaysia is not expected to be dragged into the economic slowdown,' he said.

'From an early stage, our study showed that we will achieve 5% (economic growth) this year. Next year, although we have to face a slight reduction in the economic growth, we are not expected to be dragged down by the economic slowdown,' he said.

'As the market situation is very volatile, we need a little more time, for example, to determine the 2009 economic growth projection. Bank Negara, the Treasury and EPU (Economic Planning Unit) need more time to study in greater detail because the world market is very volatile and it's difficult to make a projection.

Najib also said the Government would announce specific measures from time to time or in stages depending on the world market situation.

He stressed that the measures that would be taken by the Government might be different from those taken in the past financial crisis.

In Butterworth, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the five economic corridors would still be given priority by the Government and continue to be developed despite the global economic slowdown,

He assured investors and participants that the plans to develop the corridors would go on, noting that only some components within the corridors were being reviewed.

'The Government will decide on the actual projects that will be implemented and the ones that will not, as well as those that will be put on priority,' he told reporters after presenting appointment letters to 27 bus stop contractors in Tasek Gelugor yesterday.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the Government would review and shelve some projects, including those in the economic corridors, in view of the global economic slowdown.

In Kota Kinabalu, International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said a strategic plan would be put in place to monitor and intervene if there are any drop in the exports of Malaysian products that might be affected by the financial crisis.