KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — The volume of bond issuance in Malaysia will increase due to improvements in the global economy, coupled with the strong growth from countries like China and Asean members, says the World Bank.

Senior Economist (Poverty Reduction & Economic Management Network), Dr Frederico Gil Sander, said the volume would continue to improve following the number of investment activities happening in Malaysia, now ranked first among emerging economies in East Asia for the ease of doing business.

“As the investment activities increase, so does the need to finance those projects and all of that are done through the bond market.

“That is why we expect that the good economic activities tend to be linked with the good year of issuance for the bond market,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Rating Agency Malaysia Bhd’s Annual Bond Conference on Asian Bond Market: Risks and Opportunities.

 Sanders said improvements in the investment activities here would also boost the government’s gross domestic target of six per cent this year from the earlier projection of 5.5 per cent.

“We hope the government will achieve that target as well as improving its rating given its continued efforts being made to reduce the fiscal deficit with measures namely the cut in subsidies and implementation of the goods and services tax next April,” he said. — Bernama