One policy that Malaysia introduced subsequent to the NERP was that of strict capital controls on foreign cash i.e. FDI. The government of Malaysia was heavily criticized by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the USA for its actions in restricting foreign flows of income, as it prevented foreign investors from funneling and subsequently withdrawing cash from the stock market and foreign exchange without a grace period of three to six months. However, as a result of these controls, exchange rates could no longer affect the volume of investment and interest rates as much as they were able to prior to their inception[12]. The lack of foreign influence restored confidence in the economy and people and businesses were more willing to take risks e.g. take out more loans from the central/private banks. In this, I praise the government of my country for going all out against all odds, defying the IMF by refusing its Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) loans and pursuing policies that were inherently against neo-liberal rationales. As a result, Malaysia managed to regain its economic impetus in 2001 and continue to exhibit good rates of growth in the years after.