A political economist has defended the Pakatan Harapan government’s moves to rush reforms, saying that Malaysia would not be slipping into a recession despite slower growth.

Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) senior research fellow Shankaran Nambiar said raking up the 1MDB scandal, exposing BN's failed ventures, and discontinuing projects that made little economic sense were all part of Harapan’s “damage control mode”.