Shah Alam, 7 October: Carlsberg Brewery Malaysia Berhad (Carlsberg Malaysia) welcomed Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s Budget 2012 tabled at the Dewan Rakyat today, as a pragmatic budget for the people that stresses on helping Malaysians in an environment of rising cost of living.

“We, in Carlsberg join Malaysians in thanking the government for its wisdom in understanding the bread and butter issues and how it will impact the man on the street,” Carlsberg Malaysia Managing Director, Soren Ravn said.

Thanking the government for maintaining beer excise duties in Budget 2012, Carlsberg Malaysia believes the move benefits all Malaysians as the government will be assured of its current continued growth in its revenue which the brewery industry have been contributing on an annual basis since the last 5 years.

“By maintaining beer excise duty, which is already the highest in Asia Pacific and second highest in the world after Norway, it has paved the way for the government to enhance its revenue collection without adding pressure to the drinking community,” Soren Ravn points out.

The pragmatic decision is also consistent with the government’s Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) objectives, the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) and the Entry Point Projects (EPPs) focusing on growing the tourism sector significantly.

According to the data from Tourism Malaysia, 84% of the tourists who visited Malaysia were from nonMuslim countries, where beer is normally a complementary drink to go with food especially when they experience the variety and well known local cuisine.

“Carlsberg Malaysia will continue to align its activities and initiatives to support the government in achieving its objectives of transforming Malaysia to a high income nation by 2020,” added Soren Ravn.