of asean consumers. studies show that asean is currently the world ’ s fastest growing population of internet users, with more than 125, 000 new users coming online every year. another survey conducted in 2017 revealed that the majority of the middle - class consumers in five asean countries are not only willing to pay extra for better quality products, they are also willing to try and frequently search for new products across various media channels. this affirms the growing power of the consumer. it also means that digitalising insurance solutions can drive greater demand for insurance services via improved consumer experience. here in malaysia, these trends have resulted in among others, a number of key policy changes and interventions that are intended to better protect the consumers of insurance. this includes the implementation of the balanced scorecard framework for agents, which aims to increase the level of professionalism of intermediaries. in addition, the upcoming introduction of the minimum allocation rate for investment - linked insurance and takaful products is aimed at safeguarding the account value of consumers. another shift is in the growing demands by society to look into the needs of the underserved. as it is, these needs remains vast across many of our countries. working towards promoting equitable and inclusive growth is necessary for the long - term sustainability of asean. the industry should explore these less penetrated markets through new strategies and strengthened capabilities. nonetheless, expecting markets to effectively provide for the needs of the underserved may be challenging. markets, driven by financial motives have a tendency to end up instead widening the disparities in income, equality and socio - economic protection. intervention or even redistribution becomes a necessary tool to correct this, rebalance societal fortunes to enable the economically worst off to benefit and be co - opted back into the mainstream, as part of an overall social agenda that promotes inclusion and cohesiveness. this goal, of inclusion and cohesiveness, may well be a prerequisite to truly maximising society ’ s economic potential. consistent with this is another key initiative in malaysia that targets the underserved. this is the new insurance scheme for the bottom 40 % households. supported by pioneering contributions from foreign insurers, a fund will be set up to provide insurance cover for those eligible. they will receive income support if they are diagnosed with critical illnesses or hospitalised. this policy intervention attempts to resolve the market ’ s inability to provide such protection. perception out there has been that this segment of the population is uninsurable, or from the perspective of

tripled when priced in euro ). fortunately, european countries have resisted the temptation to reduce energy taxes, which would have led to an increase in demand and therefore ultimately raise the rich countries ’ oil bill. on the other hand, other industrial countries have continued to keep energy taxation at very low levels, in order to support consumption. in some cases production of “ bio - fuels ” has been encouraged, which has led to further distortions in energy and food prices. the main oil and energy companies until two years ago have continued to price oil at usd 40 a barrel in their industrial plans, thus underestimating the need – and the opportunity – for investment in order to increase supply. the combination of these three imbalances is the source of the economic slowdown under way, above all in the united states, accompanied by strong inflationary pressures and by financial turbulence unfolding since the last summer. overcoming the current economic phase implies some correction of the imbalances i have just mentioned. two questions come to mind : 1. how long will the current critical economic and financial phase last? 2. what can economic policy do to speed up the correction and alleviate its costs? the reply to the first question is that probably more time will be needed than is thought to overcome the current adjustment because the imbalances that underlie this critical period go back a long way and will take time to unwind. time will be needed, in particular, before american households start saving again in a significant way, to run down part of their debt. in the short term, this may involve slower growth for some years. time will be needed before the financial operators regain trust in the capacity to resort to sound sources of finance so as to be able to reduce their current high appetite for liquidity. some financial instruments will remain relatively illiquid, until the prospect of a capital gain will not become realistic gain. it will not however be possible to return to the very low levels of risk remuneration seen in recent years. credit institutions will have to rethink their business models in order to better assess the opportunities for growth based on the availability of capital. time will also be needed before the supply of commodities can react to demand in such a way as to keep prices down. as for agricultural commodities, the use of new productive land implies long - term investments and implementation times. climate change could increase the variability of supply. the same applies to energy commodities. without a stronger policy of energy saving, in particular