Malaysia on Tuesday shelved a 1.7 billion ringgit (470 million dollar) deal to buy 12 military helicopters from Eurocopter because of the bleak global economy. "At the moment, we have decided not to purchase the helicopters. We need to delay it ... because of the financial crisis. We need to have money," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told reporters.
Abdullah's decision to scrap the deal for the 12 EC725 helicopters awarded to the European company is one of the government's first major cost-cutting move as it re-prioritises its budget to cope with the worsening global financial crisis.
"We just cannot be borrowing every time. We need money. The best thing to do now is to reallocate our budget," said Abdullah, who is also defence minster. Eurocopter Group is a wholly-owned division of European Aeronautic Defence and Space (EADS). The group's products account for 30 percent of the total world helicopter fleet. Eurocopter Malaysia has a regional maintenance facility near Port Klang, west of the capital Kuala Lumpur.