.jpg "Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng addresses reporters during a press conference after attending the 40th CATA Annual Technical Conference 2019 at the St Giles Wembley Hotel, George Town November 11, 2019. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Sayuti Zainudin")
CYBERJAYA, Nov 13 — The country’s economic growth is still resilient despite the US-China trade dispute backlash and the projected world merchandise trade volume growth of only 1.2 per cent in 2019, instead of the 2.6 per cent increase forecast in April.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said the country’s economic growth will be supported by development expenditure, for which the money not spent this year will be rolled over to next year.
“Hence, we are more confident of the economic growth as two years of development expenditure will be spent in one year,” he said after opening the 60th Pan-Asian E-commerce Alliance steering committee meeting, here today.
Lim said although the US-China trade war is expected to be resolved, what is important is to ensure that domestic stimulus through project implementation could be carried out smoothly.
Asked on the stimulus package, he said it will be implemented if the economic situation becomes more sluggish.
“But for now we just have to wait. Based on the projection for this year, it (the economy) is expected to continue to grow. Should the need arises next year and this depends on whether the trade war grinds to a halt,” he said.
On the size of the package, he said the government has fiscal space but it depends on the economic situation.
In his speech, Lim said the Malaysian economy has performed more resiliently than others, registering a gross domestic product (GDP) of 4.9 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of this year, which was faster than the 4.5 per cent growth in the previous quarter.
For the whole of 2019, he said the government expects the GDP to expand at 4.7 per cent. — Bernama
