KUALA LUMPUR – The reopening of more economic sectors under the second phase of movement control order (MCO 2.0) has succeeded in reducing the country’s losses to RM300 million a day compared with RM2.4 billion a day during the MCO 1.0.
Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said MCO 2.0 allows more economic sectors to operate while providing a balance between the people’s health and economic pressures.
“During the first MCO, our country suffered a loss of RM2.4 billion a day and if it had been implemented continuously, surely, our country’s economic system, including the public health system, would have been paralysed,” he said in his opening remarks at the virtual 25th Revenue Day of the Inland Revenue Board (IRB) today.
He said that the country has managed to curb the number of deaths due to Covid-19 to 0.3% of all cases, which is also in the lowest 5.0% category globally.
He said the effectiveness of the government's measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 has also been recognised by international credit ratings agency Moody's, which maintained Malaysia's A3 rating with stable projections in January this year.
"Moody's also expects the Covid-19 pandemic not to have a long-lasting effect on the country's economic structure.
"Therefore, the current and subsequent waves of contagion will only delay but not hinder the country's economic recovery towards a higher and sustainable growth path," he said.
Tengku Zafrul said the success of this rating was driven by a strong economic foundation and good fiscal discipline, including the support of economic sector diversification.
However, he said it depended heavily on the country's ability to curb the pandemic and implement continuous recovery in external demand.
Although Malaysia experienced a contraction in gross domestic product of 5.6% last year, Tengku Zafrul said this figure is better than initial projections by international organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund (-5.8%), World Bank (-5.8%) and Asian Development Bank (-6.0%).
He also said Malaysia's performance was better compared with regional peers such as Thailand (-6.1%) and the Philippines (-9.5%) and other countries, such as the UK (-9.9%). – Bernama, March 1, 2021
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