MALAYSIA EXPECTED TO MAKE FASTER RECOVERY IN 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 (Bernama) -- Malaysia, as a highly trade dependent
country, will recover much faster when the global economic growth starts to
rebound in 2010, an economist said.

Leading Asian economist Manu Bhaskaran, in his talk titled "The Global
Crisis-Riding Through The Bad Times", said Malaysia's gross domestic product
(GDP) is expected to expand to six percent in 2010 as against the 5.3 percent
estimated last year.

"For 2009, I think the GDP will be in the range of 2.5 percent to 3.5
percent.For 2010, you will see a significant pick up as countries like Malaysia,
Singapore and Hong Kong are leveraged on the global economic growth.

"When the global growth goes down, we will suffer badly.But when it
recovers, we will also recover much faster. That will be the case for
Malaysia," said Bhaskaran, who is also chief executive officer for Centennial
Asia Advisors, Singapore.

Asked if Malaysia needed more policies to respond to the current poor global
economic growth, he said: "In terms of monetary and fiscal policy, a lot has
been done. I am quite sure that there will be a lot more to come if the global
economy worsens.

"There however is a limit to what a policy can do. When you are trade
dependent and external demand falls, policy can be undertaken to mitigate but
not reverse it."

He said that Malaysia was highly exposed to the world economy and there
would be multiple hits as a result.
-- BERNAMA