By Debra Chong | November 18, 2011
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 18 — Malaysia should brace for a protracted economic slump despite the expected announcement today that its economy has grown by up to 4.8 per cent in the past three months, analysts have warned, as the mushrooming debt cloud from the US and Europe spreads eastwards.
As the country heads into the last six weeks of the year, Bloomberg News reported today that most Asian currencies have been falling in the past three months on concern the nations that led the recovery from the 2009 global recession will falter.
“It’s part of monetary easing if they let their currencies weaken,” the business news agency reported United Overseas Bank economist Ho Woei Chen as saying.
The ringgit has fallen more than five per cent in the past three months while the Thai baht has weakened 3.3 per cent but neither countries have cut their rates even as Indonesia and Australia lowered borrowing costs in this last quarter.
“Probably they are not cutting interest rates that aggressively but letting their currency depreciate,” Ho said, adding he expects Malaysia and Thailand to highlight the risks to growth going forward.
Citing United Overseas Bank Ltd, Bloomberg reported that policymakers throughout the region may allow more weakening to support non-oil exports to Europe and the US, which have been crashing across the board in Singapore.
The republic’s main electronics sector has been battered and dropped by 31 per cent last month compared to the same period last year due to poor demand for disk drives and integrated circuits which plunged more than 50 per cent.
Analysts observed that Malaysia’s growth spurt in the last quarter was due to its strong domestic demand and export before the sovereign debt-crisis deepened in Europe.
Investment experienced a sprint in Southeast Asia’s third- largest economy since the Najib administration last year identified US$444 billion (RM1.37 trillion) worth of private sector-led projects to spur growth, Bloomberg reported.
International Business Machines Corp (IBM), Toshiba Corp and Agilent Technologies Inc are among the companies that have pledged new investments here.
Exports grew at the fastest pace in more than a year in September as companies shipped abroad more electronics and commodities.
But the analysts also warned that the growth could be stunted if the external sectors spilled over into the domestic economy.
“Supply chain disruptions stemming from Thai floods may depress industrial production in the short run,” reported Bloomberg, quoting Daniel Wilson, an analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore.
#1 by monsterball on Friday, 18 November 2011 - 8:15 pm
Sooner or later a strong healthy country like Malaysia will be a weakling… when blood suckers keep stealing billions.
#2 by yhsiew on Saturday, 19 November 2011 - 1:17 am
Foreign investors will refuse to park their money here if more scandals like the “cattle condo” are unveiled.
#3 by k1980 on Saturday, 19 November 2011 - 10:12 am
//Malaysia’s economy likely to slow//
Millions of school children can be heard sobbing: No more RM100 for them in 2012, 2013, 2014……2099
#4 by dagen on Saturday, 19 November 2011 - 10:34 am
Ok First thing first. Let me earn my due before I say anything else. The statement by debra is anti-agung, anti-sultan, anti-islam-jenis umno, anti-gobermen, anti-melayu (actually umnoputra), unpatriotic, ungrateful, communism, terrorism etc etc and hence she (and all those named in the article) is ISA-able and her citizenship (and those named) can therefore revoked by umno. There, another 100,000 ringgit for spewing this.
Yrs ago LKY remarked that “standing still is not an option.” That would simply let others from behind to catch up and even overtake us. Malaysia is one close example of that. We as a country did not quite stand still for on the surface we have some semblance of progress. But wonton and now wonton and ridiculous corruption, leakages, wastage, mismanagement etc etc have basically set back whatever progress which we could have achieved. In totality, we have moved pretty slowly over the past 50yrs. Indonesia has caught up. So has thailand and soon vietnam would follow. China is now miles ahead. Taiwan too. HK and korea, they are now way out at the front – a position somewhere out there where we used to occupy.
But of course all of these would change. Trust umno. Malaysia boleh. LKY will be proven wrong. Standing still is an option. In fact a good option. A viable option. Only umnoputras, the supreme race of the world, could see this. With bad economy biting everywhere and slowing the economies of all affected countries, malaysia by standing still will one day, sometime in the near future I believe, stand out at the forefront. YES.
… cintanegara, with the help of mr angkasawan, fed some feel good ideas into the dreams of jib and moo via the cyberspace.
PS. Cintanegara save his ideas somewhere in the cybercloud. I stole them using his password “tipunegara”.
#5 by boh-liao on Saturday, 19 November 2011 - 6:50 pm
No worry 1, M’sia’s economy is strong, lots of foreign workers still want 2 come here what
M’sia got lots of things 2 export 2 other nations, including unemployable graduates as workers n best obedient wives as maids
#6 by on cheng on Monday, 21 November 2011 - 8:48 pm
Malaysia likely to lose its position as the 3rd largest economy in ASEAN soon, to 4th place,
Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore would be ahead.