KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 — Standard & Poor’s Rating Services is upbeat of Malaysia’s prospects and a rating upgrade is possible if the country can improve total revenue to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio.
Tan Kim Eng Senior Director of Sovereign and International Public Finance Ratings for Asia Pacific suggested that the government improve its total revenue as a percentage of GDP as the current revenue base was relatively small.
“However, we do see a lot more room for improvement in terms of the country’s revenue, by focusing more on nation building initiatives, education reforms and infrastructure building, and still not threaten the stability of the country’s fiscal balance sheet.
“We are also quite upbeat of Malaysia’s prospects and forecast, going forward,” said Tan, who spoke during a panel discussion on the “New Malaysia: Resiliency of the Economy and Credit Profile” held in conjunction with an investors conference themed, “Malaysia: A New Dawn” here today.
The conference, officiated by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was jointly organised by Malayan Banking Bhd, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and RHB Banking Group. — Bernama
