Bank Negara governor sees flat growth in 2009
By Wong Choon Mei
Amid fears of a return to mega-projects to prime the economy, Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz expects ‘more or less’ flat economic growth for this year, saying that the domestic economy was still expanding and could offset the drag of the contracting global environment.
“The (negative) effects of the global developments showed up in the first and second quarters of the year. Our export numbers have shown that,” she told reporters today.
“In the current environment our projection is more or less a flat growth because of the contractions of the external environment and it is being offset by domestic demand.”
However, she declined to estimate when the local economy could bottom out, saying that would depend on external factors. “It is not clear yet and what is the direction of the global economy.
We are seeing some stabilisation taking place. This is very encouraging but we still have to wait and see because of the financial sector resolution in many of the advanced countries which still need to take place before we see stabilisation occurring,” she said.
Amid fears of a return to mega-projects to prime the economy, Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz expects ‘more or less’ flat economic growth for this year, saying that the domestic economy was still expanding and could offset the drag of the contracting global environment.
“The (negative) effects of the global developments showed up in the first and second quarters of the year. Our export numbers have shown that,” she told reporters today.
“In the current environment our projection is more or less a flat growth because of the contractions of the external environment and it is being offset by domestic demand.”
However, she declined to estimate when the local economy could bottom out, saying that would depend on external factors. “It is not clear yet and what is the direction of the global economy.
We are seeing some stabilisation taking place. This is very encouraging but we still have to wait and see because of the financial sector resolution in many of the advanced countries which still need to take place before we see stabilisation occurring,” she said.
