Of all the problems plaguing the nation and the central administration, we are still stable, economically. If some of us are into believing that we will not be able to even pay wages to the public servants in the next few months, there are international experts who place a lot of positive elements on it.
Yes, there are bad disposition in the air about our strength, and the people who painted the country in red must really apply common sense before coming up with more crap again.
Read this:
Yes, there are bad disposition in the air about our strength, and the people who painted the country in red must really apply common sense before coming up with more crap again.
Read this:
Issues surrounding 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) have affected the sentiment of local investors but not that of foreign investors, said Fitch Ratings Managing Director/Global Head of Sovereign and Supranational Group James McCormack.
"We attached a lot of importance to it (1MDB) here, clearly, but I think outside the country, it (1MDB) is not quite as hot an issue as it is here," he said at the Malaysia Economic Update 2015 forum here, today.
From Fitch Ratings' perspective on the 1MDB issue, McCormack said there were obviously some concerns with respect to governance in Malaysia.
However, he had also raised concerns on China's current economic transformation, moving from investment-led export oriented economy to consumption-led economy, and service oriented to domestic demand economy, which could impact Malaysia.
"Asia in general had leverage China's previous economic model tremendously. If China succeeds in its reform, it will be different kind of growth that would be taking place (in China), not the previous one that could be capitalised immediately by other countries in Asia.
"Northeast Asia would benefit more as their current economic model could gear towards the consumption story of China, which is benefiting from the new growth model," he said.
Here's another:
Malaysia too is not experiencing capital flight but continues to receive foreign direct investments (FDIs), Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said.
Malaysia too is not experiencing capital flight but continues to receive foreign direct investments (FDIs), Bank Negara Malaysia governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said.
She said the capital outflow was largely due to domestic and government-linked companies investing offshore to diversify their investments.
"Malaysia is a perfect centre (for FDIs) and this is manifested if you look at the balance of payments," she said during a session at the Malaysia's Economic Update 2015 Forum here today.
Zeti said during the Asian financial crisis, Malaysia experienced outflows and speculative attacks on the ringgit by foreign speculators.
"At that time, we were one of the countries that were not experiencing domestic capital flight. The domestics believed in the policies that we were implementing and they stayed with us. That is why we did not have the collapse in currency," she said.
Zeti said Malaysia had been a recipient of FDIs for more than 100 years.
Similarly, the Performance Management and Delivery Unit’s chief executive officer, Idris Jala, said top government officials and economic experts have given their assurances that the Malaysian economy is not in crisis.
Idris said, however, they believed that the country’s economy was facing uncertainties as a result of external and internal challenges.
“We acknowledge factors affecting sentiments and realistically we are heading for some tough times.
“Regardless, we also see long-term, credible investors to continue to place their trust in Malaysia as a competitive market committed to sustainable economic growth.
“We are not in any way in the Malaysia of 1998 during the Asian financial crisis,” he said at the Economic Update 2015 in Kuala Lumpur today.
Idris said the government was cognisant of concerns around 1MDB and political funding that has led to some political risks affecting the businesses environment.
“But as a nation, we are a resilient lot. We will get past this as the administration is committed to its efforts in positioning Malaysia as a top investment and trade destination in Asia,” he said.
He said Malaysia was still on track to become a high-income economy by 2020 despite the currency challenges.
“The strengthening of the US dollar has negatively impacted 120 currencies, even though they don't have 1MDB and RM2.6 billion issues,” he said.
Meanwhile, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said the economy did not face crisis of confidence because people would always tend to look at long term.
“Between the short- and long-term views on economy, there are always ups and downs and there are some challenges of course, but we have to move on.
“On issues like 1MDB, we have to put a closure. We need to put all these behind us as soon as we can.
“The government recognises these problems and we are looking to put a closure to this subject,” he said.
What about this?
And this is more encouraging. The Government is still able to pay out the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) this year, says Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.
What about this?
And this is more encouraging. The Government is still able to pay out the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) this year, says Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah.
“Don't worry. I don’t see any drastic inability of the Government (to pay BR1M). This means we’ve maintained our revenue and we are expecting more,” he said.
“It will be better than this year’s amount and the request for expenditure will definitely be more,” he told reporters after launching a programme of the General Operations Force North Brigade 1Malaysia Library in Hulu Kinta near here, yesterday.
He said the BR1M rate would also be raised for all categories of recipients next year. It will be announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when tabling Budget 2016 in October.
He said the BR1M rate would also be raised for all categories of recipients next year. It will be announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak when tabling Budget 2016 in October.
“We are in the midst of preparing the budget, and we have several ideas. The first draft will be tabled to the Cabinet in the next few weeks and will be announced by the Prime Minister next month.
So, what is so bad about the economy? It could be affecting the image and integrity of some people up there but I dont think they want to lead us into trouble!