Malaysia’s economic fundamentals remain strong

The findings from the review concluded that Datuk Seri Nazir Razak did not misuse his position as the group chief executive at that time nor was there any inappropriate use of the bank

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Group Holdings Bhd chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak expects the economic growth to ease in the second half of the year.

“I think we should lower down our expectation for the second half of this year,” he said when asked on the economic growth.

“If you look at analysts expectations, they are expecting a gross domestic product (GDP) of about 5% for 2017, which by definition would equate to a slower second half,” he added.

Nazir was speaking to reporters at the sideline of the Asean Roundtable Series on “Deepening Capital Markets in Asean: Opportunities and Challenges” at Menara CIMB on Monday.

He pointed out that Malaysia, as an open economy country, had benefitted from a “synchronised” global recovery.

The economy rebounded strongly by 5.6% in the first quarter ended March 31, compared with the same quarter a year ago. While for the second quarter, the economy grew 5.8%, exceeding consensus estimate of 5.4%.

“The first half shows that the fundamentals of the economy is still strong,” Nazir said, adding that CIMB was maintaining its GDP forecast at 5.4% for 2017.