Malaysia's stimulus package not aggressive enough?

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its updated World Economic Outlook (WEO) published in November 2008, forecast a global recession in 2009. The IMF revised its projection of 2009 world output growth to 2.2%, down from the 3% projected in the October WEO.

In November, Malaysia announced a RM7bil economic stimulus package to avoid a possible recession in 2009. There have been criticisms about the timeliness of the package, which is understandable because by the fourth quarter of 2008, business conditions and the consumer sentiment in Malaysia had turned so bad that the MIER Business Conditions Index virtually collapsed to a new historical low of 53.8 points, way below the 100-point threshold.