CARREFOUR MALAYSIA TO PHASE OUT FOREIGN WORKERS

PETALING JAYA, March 14 (Bernama) -- Carrefour Malaysia will not renew the
contract of its foreign workers when it expires and will fill up the vacancies
with locals, its managing director Shafie Shamsuddin said Saturday.

He said that presently, 350 workers from Indonesia and Bangladesh were
employed at the company's hypermarkets nationwide and the number would be
reduced gradually when their contracts expired.

"In the past three months, we have been employing 600 local workers and we
are planning to grow our business gradually," he said when launching the
"Stretch Your Ringgit" campaign which focused on the pegging of prices for
essential products.

"We are planning to open up more outlets nationwide and are awaiting
government approval," he said. Currently, Carrefour has 17 outlets with more
than 4,000 workers.

Shafie said that to support the government's second stimulus package plan in
averting price increase on basic necessities, Carrefour had invested RM15
million to further cut back prices on 45 essential items with a guarantee of
more savings and more value.

"The products were selected by the customers based on a survey on consumers'
needs. It includes cooking oil, detergent, baby diapers and fresh items such as
fruits and vegetables," he added.

-- BERNAMA