PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s main challenge and opportunity lies in speeding up structural reforms to accelerate the country’s transition to a high-income economy, according to the World Bank. These include uncertainty over the trajectory of economic growth in the global economy, and potential volatility in financial markets. “With limited fiscal and monetary policy leeway, targeted measures could be considered to support the most vulnerable households,” the World Bank said. In addition, introducing unemployment benefits could help to improve matching in the labour market and provide support as the labour market softens, it said. According to the World Bank, Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth would likely moderate to 4.2% in 2016 from 5% last year.

Source: The Star October 05, 2016 23:02 UTC