What they say.

MALAYSIAN BUSINESS polled market practitioners on their views with regard to the New Economic Model. While most of them feel the growth target is achievable, they are also mindful of the many hurdles present. We present here the salient points of their comments.

DR YEAH KIM LENG Group Chief Economist, RAM Holdings IN becoming what it is today as an upper middle-income economy, the Malaysian economy grew at above 7% annually on average in the 1970s and 1990s. Hence, the 6.5% target for the next 10 years does not seem unreasonable going by historical achievements.

However, a repeat performance is increasingly challenging, firstly, due to the base effect - richer countries tend to grow slower. Secondly, the likely changes in the post-crisis global economic landscape where growth in the G3 economies of the United States, Japan and the European Union is expected to …