PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): Civil servants who disclose misconduct and embezzlement will be awarded the Integrity and Personality Award (IPA) as well as cash incentives worth up to RM30,000, says Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.

He said any complaints of misconduct and misappropriation would be evaluated and reviewed by a high-level committee chaired by Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Ahmad Badri Mohd Zahir.

"(This is) not only for those in the Finance Ministry but open to all civil servants who have the courage to report any misconduct and embezzlement, ” he said at the ministry’s monthly gathering here Friday (Oct 4).

According to Lim, the move was to promote the government’s commitment to enhance the governance and service delivery in line with the principles of Clean and Efficient, Accountable and Transparent (CAT) following the financial problem inherited from the previous administration.

"It should be emphasised that the government is burdened with financial turmoil and mismanagement involving RM150bil or nearly RM5,000 for each Malaysian," he said.

Lim said the ministry would also introduce the Creativity and Innovation Award (CIA) and cash incentives up to RM30,000, to encourage civil servants to come up with new, creative and innovative methods that could promote savings and ease the work process.

"This is important because prior to this, any savings made would be channelled to the Consolidated Fund, but now, savings would be channelled back to the ministry or agency involved in order to enjoy monetary savings, ” he added.

Meanwhile, Lim said the government remained positive for sustainable economic growth in the second half of this year following the country’ s economy that grew by 4.9% in the second quarter of 2019 from 4.5% in the first quarter.

He, however, said the government was aware of the challenges it needed to face as an exporter after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) had sharply downgraded global trade outlook for this year.

Lim said Malaysia also faced further challenges from the effects of the US-China trade war and broader economic slowdown.

Recently, the WTO had cut its growth forecast for global trade by 1.2% in 2019, compared with its earlier estimate of 2.6% in April. - Bernama