Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Shahrir Samad said the campaign, to be launched on Jan 16, was to ensure local producers would not have to rely on export markets.

'The main concern for the ministry is no longer inflation but to ensure the economic growth of local businesses,' he said at the New Year gathering at his ministry here yesterday.

He said Malaysia could not escape the economic crisis that the Western countries were suffering.

'We never expected that a country like Iceland would resort to the IMF for financial help and if Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc could go bust, we would definitely feel the heat too.'

He said the nationwide campaign was to encourage the buying of Malaysian-made goods so they could survive in the business world.

'We might have overlooked some of the local products in the past but we do produce goods with high quality,' he said.

Asked whether the quantity of imported products would be reduced following the launch of the campaign, Mr Shahrir said there was no plan to do so because Malaysian products could definitely compete with those from overseas.

On whether there would be another fuel price cut this month, he said: 'There isn't any big difference with the world crude price, which stood at US$41 per barrel at the end of December but we will continue to monitor the price every two weeks.' -- THE STAR/ANN