Malaysia is on track to meet its 2025 gross domestic product (GDP) growth target despite challenges posed by the ongoing tariff war, says Economy Minister Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli.
Speaking to reporters after launching the World Bank report titled "A Fresh Take on Reducing Inequality and Enhancing Mobility in Malaysia" on Wednesday (Feb 5), Rafizi assured that the government is closely monitoring the risks, with the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI) responsible for gathering input from all ministries.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
Speaking to reporters after launching the World Bank report titled "A Fresh Take on Reducing Inequality and Enhancing Mobility in Malaysia" on Wednesday (Feb 5), Rafizi assured that the government is closely monitoring the risks, with the Ministry of Investment, Trade, and Industry (MITI) responsible for gathering input from all ministries.
WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news
SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar
LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00How do you see that affecting Malaysia's economy and our economic outlook? Are you going to
00:09be revising the forecast? And how do you think it would affect the region as well?
00:16The government is going through the process. MITI has been tasked to evaluate and put our
00:28strategy forward and streamline all ministries' response to it. So I think I leave that to MITI
00:39in terms of what exactly is our official response. Some, if we need to respond, I suppose we have to
00:50wait and see. But clearly, internally, the government has a strategy that we will have
00:56to adhere to. And we'll take cue from MITI. As far as the economic growth outlook is concerned,
01:07there is no discussion now on revision. So I think, again, we'll take cue collectively.
01:15And usually economic outlook is only finalised and shared closer to the budget. So I think,
01:30whatever it is, I think we'll leave that to Bank Negara and Ministry of Finance and we'll work
01:38together. But normally, as a matter of practice, we'll share the government's growth outlook in
01:47time for the budget, unless something really drastic happens. I think we have to navigate
01:58the volatility. We've seen on Ringgit, for example, we've seen Ringgit actually strengthen
02:06in the last one week or so. And it's very much the function of the market. Because of the evolving
02:19and developing nature of the trade war that is happening now, the market will price what they
02:29expect will happen. And every speculation, every projection that they price into their position
02:41in the market will definitely affect Ringgit, either by strengthening dollar or not. So I think
02:51that is given that we will go through some, we have to navigate some changes and volatility,
03:00I hope it's not going to be extreme. But to me, the good thing is that, at least in the last one
03:10month, the optimism for the medium and long term growth prospect of Malaysia has not changed. And
03:21the what is happening in the market as a result of the trade war, I think it's something that
03:30the market will find a way to factor everything and price everything in due time. And eventually,
03:40it will come back to the value proposition that the Malaysian economy can propose to the world.
03:48On that note, I think some of the hypothesis that had resulted in a lot of interest in Malaysian
04:00economy for the last one year or so have not changed. The projection that the world is going
04:11to be more digital and AI is going to be mainstream, that has not changed. And with that, that means
04:17that demand for chips will go up. And that will bolster Malaysia's trade. The fact that we need
04:26to manage climate change, and we have to find a good equilibrium point for sustainable energy in
04:38the future, that has not changed. So a lot of our economic plans have been built around long term
04:49mega trends. And the mega trends have not changed. If anything, in fact, it may favour us. More and
05:00more corporations around the world and economies around the world will pay more attention to
05:06building more resilient global supply chain. And our long term plan is to make sure that Malaysia
05:16plays a pivotal role in that global supply chain. That has not changed either. So I'm not saying
05:23that it doesn't affect Malaysia, it affects everyone. But I think it's going to be a
05:32permanent feature in the global economy as you have more and more economies that are
05:40influential in the overall global supply chain, that we have to go through some adjustments and
05:48volatility. But it's just a matter of whether it's going to be short, whether it's going to
05:54be medium term, and eventually the market will price in everything provided that our fundamental
06:00growth narrative is strong. And at the moment, I think we are still very strong in terms of our
06:09future value proposition to the world.