Malaysia: 3 pct fiscal deficit target challenging

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.

A corner of Kuala Lumpur (Source: thecrazytourist.com)

Hanoi (VNA)– Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said on July 22 that Malaysiawill find it challenging to meet its 3 percent fiscal deficit target fornext year due to uncertainties around the US-China trade war.

Hesaid Southeast Asia's third-largest economy is dealing with a debt pile of over243.19 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 meetthis year's fiscal deficit target of 3.4 percent, next year's target of 3 percent wouldbe harder to meet.

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

The reserves were0.6 percent higher than that recorded on June 28, which is sufficient tofinance 7.3 months of imports.-VNA



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