Malaysia's GDP Among The Best In ASEAN, Says Minister Johari

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani reiterated on Saturday that Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is among the best in ASEAN, despite the global economic slowdown. In brushing off negative criticism over the country's economic position by the opposition, he said based on statistics as of July 31, the economy still grew by 4.1 per cent in the first half of this year, while Singapore registered only two per cent. "Our debt to the GDP is only 54.5 per cent compared to Singapore's 89 per cent and our trade surplus for 2015 at about US$23.23 billion (RM95 billion) and US$11 billion (RM45 billion) for the first six months of this year," he said in a statement here Saturday. He added that Malaysia's economy is well diversified with the services sector contributing 54 per cent to the GDP, followed by manufacturing (23 per cent), mining (nine per cent), agriculture (eight per cent) and construction (four per cent). Johari went on say that Malaysia's financial system was very resilient,with the banking sector well-capitalised. "Our capital market is very strong at RM2.8 trillion, equity market RM1.7 trillion and Sukuk/Bond stood at RM1.1 trillion," he added. The fact that Fitch Ratings has maintained the country's 'A-' rating with stable outlook, is a reflection of the country's strong economic fundamentals. "The rating by Fitch, Moody's and Standard & Poor's remain as A- compared to all ASEAN countries, except Singapore, shows that we are much better," Johari said. Meanwhile, Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) international reserves amounted to RM391.9 billion as at Aug 15, 2016. --BERNAMA