Malaysia: 3 pct fiscal deficit target challenging

Update: 23-07-2019 | 10:57:45

Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said on July 22 that Malaysia will find it challenging to meet its 3 percent fiscal deficit target for next year due to uncertainties around the US-China trade war.

He said Southeast Asia's third-largest economy is dealing with a debt pile of over 243.19 billion USD. Malaysia is also struggling with slowing economic growth, hurt largely by a global slowdown and the trade war between the US and China.

Eng added that while Malaysia can meet this year's fiscal deficit target of 3.4 percent, next year's target of 3 percent would be harder to meet.

The same day, Malaysia's central bank Bank Negara Malaysia said its international reserves stood at 103.3 billion USD as of July 15.

The reserves were 0.6 percent higher than that recorded on June 28, which is sufficient to finance 7.3 months of imports.

VNA

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Malaysia: 3 pct fiscal deficit target challenging

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