1. Background

1. The National Economic Action Council (NEAC) is an economic advisory council to the Government, first established on January 7, 1998, during the administration of the fourth Prime Minister. At that time, NEAC served as a consultative body to the Cabinet to address the country's economic issues, particularly providing advice to the Government to recover the economy and prevent it from falling into recession.

2. The Cabinet meeting on December 7, 2022, agreed to retain NEAC as the highest economic advisory council to the Government. NEAC will act as the lead in planning, implementation, and monitoring of the country's economy comprehensively, focusing on cross-ministerial and agency policy decisions to address structural economic issues based on the Government's priorities.

3. Every proposal to be presented at the NEAC Meeting must go through two committee stages beforehand, namely the Working Group Committee and the NEAC Executive Committee (EXCO).

4. The Working Group Committee is established to conduct engagement and consultation sessions with Ministries/ Agencies and other relevant stakeholders in preparing quality presentation papers based on the discussion/ presentation topics.

5. The Working Group Committees, based on the key result areas (KRA), are as follows:

   1. Working Group Committee 1: Strengthening the nation's fiscal position

      Responsible for assessing and making recommendations related to subsidy rationalisation, consolidation of various assistance programs, efficiency in project implementation, adoption of technology and digitalisation in the Government's service delivery system.

   2. Working Group Committee 2: Increasing Government revenue

      Responsible for assessing and making recommendations involving tax reforms, improved revenue collection performance, as well as consolidation of Government expenditure and allocations.

   3. Working Group Committee 3: Restructuring the national economy

      Responsible for assessing and making recommendations on the transition towards a balanced national energy sector, food security, investment, growth in innovation, technology, and digital-based sectors, the shift to a green economy, coordination of roles of Government-Linked Companies (GLCs), empowerment of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and talent development.

   The chairpersons for each committee are as follows:
   1. Working Group Committee 1 is chaired by the Deputy Secretary General (Policy), Ministry of Economy.
   2. Working Group Committee 2 is chaired by the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (Policy), Ministry of Finance.
   3. Working Group Committee 3 is chaired by the Deputy Secretary General (Policy), Ministry of Economy.
   The committee membership is as follows:
   1. Representatives from Ministries/ Agencies based on the discussion/ presentation topics.
   2. Representatives from the private sector and other relevant stakeholders.
   3. The Director of the NEAC Secretariat as the Committee Secretary.

6. The frequency of Working Group Committee meetings depends on needs from time to time.

7. The NEAC Executive Committee (EXCO) plays a role in finalising proposals prepared by Ministries/ Agencies. This committee is chaired by the Minister of Economy. The membership is as follows:

   1. Deputy Minister of Economy.
   2. Secretary General, Ministry of Economy.
   3. Director General, Department of Statistics Malaysia.
   4. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (Policy), Ministry of Finance.
   5. Director of Economics, Prime Minister's Office.
   6. Representative of Bank Negara Malaysia.
   7. Representatives from other divisions of the Ministry of Economy (as required).
   8. Deputy Secretary General (Policy), Ministry of Economy, as the Committee Secretary.

8. The frequency of meetings of the NEAC Executive Committee (EXCO) depends on needs from time to time.

2. Functions and Responsibilities of the NEAC Secretariat

1. The NEAC Secretariat is established under the Ministry of Economy to assist with the secretariat duties at all levels of NEAC Meetings and to monitor and report on the progress of implementation to NEAC. The NEAC Secretariat is led by the Deputy Secretary General (Policy), Ministry of Economy, as the Head of Secretariat.

2. The NEAC Secretariat is responsible for recording and documenting the minutes of NEAC Meetings.

3. The Secretariat is responsible for the safe and systematic storage of records and documents related to presentation materials, minutes, and other materials related to NEAC Meetings.

4. The NEAC Secretariat must report regularly on the implementation of decisions made by NEAC to the NEAC Meetings.