World Bank revision proves M’sia can hit target

Better outlook: A container ship is seen at Westports, Port Klang. The World Bank has released its bi-annually Global Economic Prospects, in which Malaysia’s GDP forecasts for 2017, 2018 and 2019 have been revised upward by 0.6, 0.4 and 0.5 respectively.

KUALA LUMPUR: The upward revision of Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) by the World Bank affirmed that Malaysia can achieve its target to become a developed nation by 2020 if the economy continues to sustain its rapid growth.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the World Bank’s upward revision on Malaysia’s GDP growth proved that Malaysia was on an accelerated track to achieve developed economy status by 2020.

“Bank Negara’s accommodative monetary policy will continue to support our economic growth while fiscal consolidation will reduce the fiscal deficit and help sustain government debt-to-GDP ratio,” he said in a statement.

The World Bank has released its bi-annually Global Economic Prospects, in which Malaysia’s GDP forecasts for 2017, 2018 and 2019 have been revised upward by 0.6%, 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively.

The revised upward forecast for 2017 stems from the robust economic growth of 5.6% in the first quarter of the year, which was announced last month.

Subsequently, the World Bank has forecast that Malaysia’s economy will grow by 4.9% compared with the earlier forecast of 4.3% in its January 2017 report.

This, by far, demonstrated the World Bank’s confidence in the strength of the economy, while simultaneously research houses – Citi Research and UOB Bank Malaysia – echoed the same sentiment when they had revised upwards Malaysia’s 2017 GDP growth forecast to 5%, Abdul Rahman said.

Correspondingly, he said the World Bank had foreseen Malaysia’s economy to remain solid and the fiscal policy adjustment, executed in response to plummeting energy prices, had reduced the impact on fiscal balance as the government continued to meet its deficit target every year. “Stabilising commodity prices have lifted business sentiment and investment. Global pick-up in manufacturing and trade, too, has bolstered export growth as evident recently,” he added. — Bernama