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

He said Southeast Asia's third-largest economy is dealing with a debt pile of over US$243.19 billion. 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 meet this year's fiscal deficit target of 3.4 percent, next year's target of 3 percent would be harder to meet.

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

The reserves were 0.6 percent higher than that recorded on June 28, which is sufficient to finance 7.3 months of imports.

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