The ‘Tiger Woods’ act is not for Malaysia

Government and corporate bonds with a total value of $17 billion at the end of 2018 would be affected, according to a Reuters calculation based on fund data. These are issued by Chile ($362 million), the Czech Republic ($50 million), Hungary ($63 million), Israel ($117 million), Malaysia ($1.9 billion), Mexico ($5.7 billion), Poland ($1.05 billion), Russia ($1.2 billion), South Korea ($6.3 billion) and Thailand ($241 million), the ministry said in a statement listing the countries, with the amounts taken from fund data.

A month before the one-year anniversary of Pakatan Harapan’s ruling the government, Malaysia has earned the accolades of being a “boring” and under-performing stock market. The ringgit, which is the thermometer to gauge the economy, has weakened after the initial euphoria of appreciating as high as RM4 against the US dollar.

An economist had said that Malaysia without the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is too dependent on oil revenue. Budget 2019 was based on crude oil at US$70 and considering that the year-to-date average is lower, the country would not be able to keep to spending limits.