Fitch Ratings reacts favourably after briefing
Representatives from Fitch Ratings Agency have responded positively to the briefing on the Malaysian economy by the Finance Ministry secretary-general Irwan Serigar Abdullah.
The briefing, held yesterday, is an effort by the Treasury to convince the agency that the country’s economy was still sustainable and should be viewed positively.
“We explained about Malaysia’s five-year plan, fiscal rationalisation and the medium-term fiscal framework on how we are going to achieve fiscal balance by 2020,” he told reporters after launching Cradle Seed Ventures in Kuala Lumpur today.
“We outlined about our programmes in the pipeline to consolidate both issues by promoting our products persistently overseas through international exhibitions and try to get foreign direct investments into Malaysia as well,” he said, adding that the government would also emphasise on the logistics and tourism sectors.
Fitch Ratings, which rated Malaysia A-, had implied a 50 percent likelihood of a downgrade of the country’s credit ratings.
Irwan said the agency would return within one month with Malaysia’s economy ratings.
“Our economic growth was still good last year and in the first quarter of this year we posted a 5.6 percent growth and external trade was also growing,” he said.
The government revised this year’s fiscal deficit target to 3.2 percent from 3 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
- Bernama
For more news and views that matter, subscribe and support independent media for only RM0.36 sen a day:
Subscribe now