Economist: Don’t pull brakes on development spending

Malaysian Economic Summit 2018. From left to right: Tan Sri Dr Michael Yeoh, Nor Zahidi Alias, Manokaran Mottain, Dr Teo Wing Leong, Dominic Shum

KUALA LUMPUR: While sovereign rating is an important factor to consider in relation to managing fiscal balance, it should not be to the extent of pushing the economy towards a recession, says panelists at an economic summit.

Malaysian Rating Corp Bhd associate director of research and chief economist Nor Zahidi Alias said the government should not pull the brakes on development expenditure, although operating expenditure may need to be controlled, moving forward.