KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 15 — Bank Negara Malaysia sees improvements in the country's fiscal debt level, as the government's external debt remains low while domestic debt trends towards amoderation, said Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.

"The government debt has leveled down to 53 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product compared with 55 per cent previously. All of this is a positive sign, so we are not concerned by the negative outlook on Malaysia by Fitch Rating's," she told a press conference on the country's second quarter GDP performance here today.

On household debt, Zeti said it had been moderating for six consecutive quarters as a result of the central bank's macro and micro prudential measures.

When asked whether the bank would introduce more measures moving forward, she said: "If we were to be overly stringent it would result in an over adjustment.

"For this quarter, household debt moderated to 10.3 per cent, which is falling at a pace where we are very happy with."

Turning to a question on the negative impact of the bank's new financing regulations towards sales of properties, she said this was a welcome sign as the bank wanted to ensure affordability of houses.

The governor said demand for property would continue its uptrend once affordability improved.

Moving forward, Zeti said the central bank would continue to monitor all economic and financial development which affects the global shifts in liquidity, such as the geopolitical tension and the adjustment to policy made by major advanced economies.

She said domestically, the financial sector was assessed to be robust and resilient in supporting domestic economic activity.

"On the overnight policy rate, we will review it in our monetary policy meeting to look at the risks to inflation and we will also monitor conditions to detect any significant destabilising financial imbalances.

"However, the current rate of 3.25 per cent remains supportive of growth," she added. — Bernama