Rahman Dahlan: Malaysia's economic performance to surpass expectations of rating agencies

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia's economic performance is set to surpass the expectations of international rating agencies, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
He said although the country faced challenges like volatile world crude oil prices, heightened tensions in North Korea and China's growing economy, its performance would not be worse off than the countries in the region.
"I am confident that with strong leadership and good government policy, we would restore investor confidence at both the local and international levels," he told reporters at the Hari Raya celebration hosted by the Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister's Department today.
Abdul Rahman said the 5.6 per cent growth in gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year and stable exports had consistently resulted in a double-digit growth for the seven-month period from December 2016 to July 2017.
"The robust growth was broad-based as our exports to the Association of South-East Asian Nations countries, including China, US, Japan and EU, grew strongly.
"Malaysia recorded a 23.3 per cent growth in exports in the first five months of this year. We are fastest among regional exporters, surpassing China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand and Singapore," he said.
He said this was contrary to the opposition's claim that the economy was deteriorating and Malaysia was no longer an exporting nation following the depreciation of the ringgit.
Abdul Rahman, who is also Barisan Nasional Strategic Communication Director, urged the opposition not sabotage the country with misinformation that could adversely affect the country.
"When the economy is affect, companies will stop investing, there will be no more factories and no more jobs. Ultimately the people will suffer," he said. — Bernama