Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019 : Making Ends Meet

Malaysia's economy is continuing to see growth, but the pace of expansion has moderated. Growth slowed to 4.4 percent in Q3 2019, as subdued global conditions and heightened uncertainty continued to weigh on the economy. Investment and trade a...

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Main Author: World Bank
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: World Bank, Kuala Lumpur 2019
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/616631575645435287/Malaysia-Economic-Monitor-Making-Ends-Meet
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32810
id okr-10986-32810
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-328102021-05-25T09:30:32Z Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019 : Making Ends Meet World Bank ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC OUTLOOK REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT EXPORTS FISCAL TRENDS HOUSEHOLD WELFARE LIVING STANDARDS POVERTY REDUCTION EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION HOUSING Malaysia's economy is continuing to see growth, but the pace of expansion has moderated. Growth slowed to 4.4 percent in Q3 2019, as subdued global conditions and heightened uncertainty continued to weigh on the economy. Investment and trade activity was softer than expected during the quarter, and indicators suggest overall business sentiment remains muted. In 2020, Malaysia's economy is projected to expand at a relatively moderate pace, amid continued uncertainty and external headwinds. The GDP growth rate is projected to reach 4.5 percent in 2020. Investment is expected to improve but remain subdued over the near term, with both the public and private sectors adopting a cautious stance towards capital spending. Similarly, the softness in export growth is likely to persist into next year, mirroring the continuing subdued global growth. Short-term policies should focus on measures to boost resilience and protect the vulnerable. Federal debt has increased, and government revenue as a share of GDP is expected to decline further next year. In the context of a more uncertain economic environment, it is vital for Malaysia to preserve fiscal space to enable it to mitigate the impact of any negative shocks to the economy. Increased progressivity in the personal income tax framework and an expansion of current tax measures could enable the government to both increase revenues and improve redistribution. Malaysia's weakening trade and investment activity, amid challenging external conditions, underscores the need to improve private sector confidence and strengthen investment competitiveness. With sluggish global demand and increased protectionist tendencies among the majoreconomies, a sustained commitment to deepening regional integration and addressing trade barriers is vital to preserve a vibrant trading environment and build investors' confidence. It is also important to strengthen Malaysia's competitiveness in attracting quality investments and to maximize the gains from tax expenditures with better targeting of investments towards economic upgrading, high-value job creation and inclusive growth. 2019-12-09T17:21:02Z 2019-12-09T17:21:02Z 2019-12-07 Report http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/616631575645435287/Malaysia-Economic-Monitor-Making-Ends-Meet http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32810 English CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Kuala Lumpur Economic & Sector Work Economic & Sector Work :: Economic Updates and Modeling East Asia and Pacific Malaysia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
EXPORTS
FISCAL TRENDS
HOUSEHOLD WELFARE
LIVING STANDARDS
POVERTY REDUCTION
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION
HOUSING
spellingShingle ECONOMIC GROWTH
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
EXPORTS
FISCAL TRENDS
HOUSEHOLD WELFARE
LIVING STANDARDS
POVERTY REDUCTION
EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
HOUSEHOLD CONSUMPTION
HOUSING
World Bank
Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019 : Making Ends Meet
geographic_facet East Asia and Pacific
Malaysia
description Malaysia's economy is continuing to see growth, but the pace of expansion has moderated. Growth slowed to 4.4 percent in Q3 2019, as subdued global conditions and heightened uncertainty continued to weigh on the economy. Investment and trade activity was softer than expected during the quarter, and indicators suggest overall business sentiment remains muted. In 2020, Malaysia's economy is projected to expand at a relatively moderate pace, amid continued uncertainty and external headwinds. The GDP growth rate is projected to reach 4.5 percent in 2020. Investment is expected to improve but remain subdued over the near term, with both the public and private sectors adopting a cautious stance towards capital spending. Similarly, the softness in export growth is likely to persist into next year, mirroring the continuing subdued global growth. Short-term policies should focus on measures to boost resilience and protect the vulnerable. Federal debt has increased, and government revenue as a share of GDP is expected to decline further next year. In the context of a more uncertain economic environment, it is vital for Malaysia to preserve fiscal space to enable it to mitigate the impact of any negative shocks to the economy. Increased progressivity in the personal income tax framework and an expansion of current tax measures could enable the government to both increase revenues and improve redistribution. Malaysia's weakening trade and investment activity, amid challenging external conditions, underscores the need to improve private sector confidence and strengthen investment competitiveness. With sluggish global demand and increased protectionist tendencies among the majoreconomies, a sustained commitment to deepening regional integration and addressing trade barriers is vital to preserve a vibrant trading environment and build investors' confidence. It is also important to strengthen Malaysia's competitiveness in attracting quality investments and to maximize the gains from tax expenditures with better targeting of investments towards economic upgrading, high-value job creation and inclusive growth.
format Report
author World Bank
author_facet World Bank
author_sort World Bank
title Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019 : Making Ends Meet
title_short Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019 : Making Ends Meet
title_full Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019 : Making Ends Meet
title_fullStr Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019 : Making Ends Meet
title_full_unstemmed Malaysia Economic Monitor, December 2019 : Making Ends Meet
title_sort malaysia economic monitor, december 2019 : making ends meet
publisher World Bank, Kuala Lumpur
publishDate 2019
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/616631575645435287/Malaysia-Economic-Monitor-Making-Ends-Meet
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/32810
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