Malaysia to rebound strongly with progressive economic factor

Munirah: While we are optimistic of the economic growth, we remain cautious over existing global conflicts and the probability of escalation such as in the Russia-Ukraine war as well as inflation rate in the country.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is expected to rebound strongly from the global slowdown, underpinned by progressive local economic growth as well as promising global economic performance forecast post-pandemic, according to a fund manager.

Principal Malaysia chief executive officer and country head Munirah Khairuddin said the past three years have seen many changes to the global landscape, including geopolitical tensions, changing world governments and volatile financial markets that caused financial distress to many, and Malaysians were not spared.

“While we are optimistic of the economic growth, we remain cautious over existing global conflicts and the probability of escalation such as in the Russia-Ukraine war as well as inflation rate in the country,” she said in an interview with Bernama.

She added that while recession fears are still looming, the worst is over for many as the majority of markets have shown strong signs of economic rebound, driven by China’s economic reopening after a long closure due to its zero-Covid policy.

“The reopening of China will reignite the recovery of the largest economy in Asia and second largest globally.

“Opportunities await in Asia, particularly within the renewables and tourism sectors, so long as the country continues to empower the small and medium enterprise and business sector to attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs).

“While Malaysia will continue to experience a volatile market especially for equities due to global circumstances, it will continue to gain traction as the market has been undervalued,” she said.

The Malaysian Investment Development Authority approved total FDI of RM392.9bil between 2018 and 2021, of which RM300.5bil or 76.5% had been realised as at end-2021, while major investments were inked in 2022, including with Samsung and AMD.