Malaysia Morning News For October 15

Malaysia In Need To Postpone “Developed Country” Target
Malaysia will become a developed country not before 2022, missing its longstanding “Vision 2020” target by at least two years, based on current government projections.
— Investvine

Malaysia’s economic fundamentals stay intact, say analysts
Malaysia’s economic fundamentals remain intact, regardless of the gloomy scenario and tough challenges faced by its capital market due to recent heavy outflow of foreign funds arising from negative developments locally and overseas, analysts said.
— The Edge Markets

Malaysia among Asia’s most visited countries, says report
South East Asian region receives the highest number of travellers with China topping the list, according to the World Tourism Organisation report.
— The Star Online

MAHB tells why Malaysia’s current airport model ensures connectivity
The existing operating model for airports in Malaysia is necessary to ensure connectivity to all parts of Malaysia, says the country’s main airport operator.
— FMT

Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim wins parliamentary by-election
Landslide victory sets the stage for Anwar Ibrahim’s eventual takeover from Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
— Aljazeera

China says it respects Malaysia’s decision on rail project
The Chinese government fully respects Malaysia’s decision-making and judgment on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) project, Reuters quoted the country’s vice-finance minister Zou Jiayi as saying.
— FMT

Agriculture: Addressing food security in Malaysia
Before the 1970s, agriculture was the basis of Malaysia’s economic growth. While it remains an important sector, it is struggling to meet the country’s consumption demands, says Dr Abdul Shukor Juraimi, dean of Universiti Putra Malaysia’s (UPM) faculty of agriculture.
— The Edge Markets

China says will ‘take care of’ debt issues of ‘Belt and Road’ projects, respects Malaysia pull-out
China’s vice finance minister Zou Jiayi on Saturday acknowledged debt issues with some of its ‘Belt and Road’ projects, saying the government will strengthen macro-supervision on the debt sustainability aspect of its overseas investments.
— Reuters

Experts have mixed views on introduction of new taxes
As the announcement of the 2019 Budget looms near, experts have mixed views over the government’s plan to introduce new taxes due to various concerns.
— The Sun Daily

Thailand records highest number of lost Malaysian passports
Thailand is one of the countries which recorded the most number of lost Malaysian passports and 90 per cent of the lost documents were reported in major shopping areas in Bangkok city.
— New Straits Times

Secretary-General Welcomes Malaysia’s Decision to End Death Penalty as Major Step towards Universal Abolition
The Secretary-General welcomes the decision of the Malaysian Cabinet to seek abolition of the death penalty in the country. This decision was taken as we commemorated the World Day against the Death Penalty on 10 October.
— AEC News Today/ PR Newswire (media release)

Crude Palm Oil Weekly Report – October 13th, 2018
Malaysia’s palm oil futures (FCPO) jumped higher on Friday, rebounding from two sessions of losses, mainly due to gains in soy oil on Friday which staged a rebound.
— The Borneo Post

Malaysia’s Ekuinas divests stake in mobile transaction gateway Tranglo to TNG for $27.6m
Malaysian state-owned private equity firm Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas) has exited its investment in Tranglo Sdn Bhd (Tranglo), a cross-border mobile transaction gateway company, by selling its 60 per cent stake to Hong Kong-based financial services firm TNG.
— DealStreetAsia

Resilience expected for the rest of AirAsia’s year
Analysts expect AirAsia Group Bhd (AirAsia) to remain resilient for the first half of its financial year 2018 (1HFY18) in spite of its net profit coming in lower by 10.5 per cent year on year (y-o-y) due to impact of fuel price increase.
— The Borneo Post

Malaysia keen on adopting Aadhaar model for target delivery of subsidies
Taking a cue from India’s Aadhaar initiative, Malaysia wants to bring changes in its national identity card system for target delivery of welfare schemes and government subsidies to avoid duplicity and fraud.
— Economic Times

The push and pull of housing prices
It has been over a month now since the Sales and Services Tax (SST) was reintroduced in lieu of our former Goods and Services Tax (GST), and all eyes are now on the housing sector as eager Malaysians await for a potential reduction in housing prices.
— The Borneo Post

Ringgit to trade on defensive mode next week
The ringgit is expected to trade more defensively against the US dollar next week due to the escalating budget noises and maintain last week’s level of 4.14 to 4.16 per greenback, says Oanda Head of Trading in Asia-Pacific Stephen Innes.
— The Sun Daily

Malaysia safe from tsunami threat, except Tawau, says geologist
TSUNAMI threats in most parts of Sabah remained low, except for Tawau, a Sabah geologist said today.
— The Malaysian Insight

BPA Malaysia Weekly Bond Market Report
The local bond market began the week on a quiet note as many investors had their eyes set on the major one-day conference hosted by the Ministry of Finance and a few local banks entitled ‘Malaysia: A New Dawn’ held on Tuesday.
— The Borneo Post

Feature photo Dhrra Malaysia

This week’s Thailand morning news feature photo acknowledges World Food Day, October 16.

Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Malaysia morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Malaysia news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.