Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said the government was monitoring water levels and would ration supplies if necessary after weather experts predicted the effects of El Nino, which causes abnormally dry weather in the region, would be particularly severe this year.

Najib also said Malaysia would clamp down on burning during the dry season and work closely with its neighbours to prevent a repeat of last year's choking haze, caused mainly by open burning in forests in Sumatra.

"This is very critical, especially in view of the Visit Malaysia Year now," Bernama quoted Najib as saying.

The national utility firm, Tenaga Nasional Berhad, said it was preparing for a surge in electricity demand as people resort to air-conditioning during the extreme weather.

"Usually, the dry spell due to the El Nino will cause electricity consumption to rise... during the hot weather, more people will install air-conditioners," Bernama quoted chief executive Che Khalib Mohamad Noh as saying.

He added that all major power plants would continue operating as usual despite concerns about low water levels.

According to the Meteorological Services website, El Nino occurs every three to seven years, when a warm current of water replaces the usual cold current off the west coast of Peru in South America.

It is linked to some major unusual weather conditions in different parts of the world, including severe floods and prolonged droughts.

"This would result in abnormally dry conditions over Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and northern Australia during an El Nino," the meteorological department said.

El Nino usually lasts between nine and 18 months, and the two strongest occurred in 1982-83 and 1997-98.

Two waves of devastating floods concentrated in Malaysia's south killed 18 people, forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes and caused damages of at least 1.5 billion ringgit (428.27 million dollars) earlier this year.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.