KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 — The revised gross domestic product (GDP) projection will be better than the earlier forecast, says Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz.
“This will be released during the Budget but we expect that it will be an improved outcome compared to the earlier projection for 2009,” she told reporters on the sidelines of the Ninth Annual Forbes CEO Conference here today.
She was responding to a question on the possibility of GDP being revised upwards.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in May said the economy will contract by between -4.0 and -5.0 per cent this year.
On inflation, Zeti said that the rate is expected to be in the region of one to two per cent later this year.
“We are not a central bank that adopts an inflation targeting framework. We had predicted that inflation would decline during the course of this year,” she said.
Zeti said that temporarily the inflation was negative because of high rate of inflation months ago.
According to the Statistics Department, the inflation in July was down 2.4 per cent.
Asked on whether interest rates will stay at current levels, she said the existing interest rate was supportive of the economy and that there had been a continuous growth in credit.
“This is important to not only businesses, small and medium scale enterprises, micro enterprises but also for households to support demand. So far, the fiscal stimulus and the access to financing are two critical elements that are supporting the recovery that we are seeing,” she added.
She said the continuous recovery in domestic demand was providing a high degree of confidence that the growth will turn positive in the fourth quarter. — Bernama
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