(Washington, 15th) - Minister of Finance Lim Guan Eng disclosed that foreign investment is pouring into Malaysia, and approved foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased from 5.4 billion ringgit last year to RM80.5 billion this year, an increase of 44%. “Foreign direct investment is a good leading indicator that allows us to know the actual investment in the next 1-3 years”. These figures also tell us that Malaysia actually benefits from the US-China trade war. ” he said.
He said that a large part of foreign direct investment comes from China and the United States. This shows that Malaysia is an investment haven. In fact, China’s entry into Malaysia’s approval of manufacturing foreign direct investment increased by 410.8% to RM19.7 billion last year. He added that related foreign direct investment from the United States increased by 184.9% to RM3.2 billion.
Completion of Corruption in 3 years, Malaysia’s Credit Rating Can Be Upgraded
In addition, Lim Guan Eng pointed out that the government is shifting from cash-based accounting to accrual accounting, which will increase the accountability and transparency of public finance. He said that the transition, which will be completed in 2021, it is very important because it can update the debt and extra budgetary expenditures outside the systemized asset load sheet and record it in the government book.
He said that in addition to establishing an open tendering system for the entire public sector, the government has also adopted a “zero-based” budget to increase the efficiency of government spending and reduce the waste of expenditures often mentioned in audit reports. “The former government has always calculated the extra-budgetary financial situation” to achieve a low fiscal deficit, but this does not reflect the actual situation. After considering various extra-budgetary expenditures, we have re-established the deficit target for 2018 from 2.8% of the former government to 3.7% of gross domestic product (GDP)."
Lin Guanying said on Saturday (13th) when he met with the Malaysian people in Washington in the United States. He said that the government will reduce the deficit level from 3.7% last year to 3.4% this year, 3.0% in 2020 and less than 2.8% in 2021, and share the relevant goals to the international rating agency Fitch, Moody and Standard & Poor's (S&P).
“After listening to our plans, despite the financial challenges of past prolific and corrupt practices, they also decided to maintain the Malaysia government’s credit rating at A-/A3. This is the confidence of the world's three major rating agencies. They understand that these reforms are necessary to ensure that abuses and corruption in the past are not repeated in the future. ”
He said that the relevant agencies also understand that if a corrupt government deserves A-/A3 rating, then a clean government deserves at least the same level; he also believes that once it is completed within three years, Malaysia is likely to be upgraded.
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