Malaysia on track to hit GDP target, says Ahmad Husni

Published: Tuesday November 26, 2013 MYT 6:43:00 PM 

Updated: Tuesday November 26, 2013 MYT 6:44:28 PM

BY LIZ LEE

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is on track to hit its gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of 4.5% to 5% in 2013, seeing that the first three-quarter growth is already within expectations.

Finance minister II Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Mohamad Hanadzlah believed that Malaysia could achieve the target as GDP growth for the last quarter alone is expected to be higher than 5%

The first nine months of 2013 recorded a 4.5% GDP growth.

"I believe we can achieve it (with the last quarter performance) given that government investment and capital expenditure are still at a low level,” he said at the sidelines of the Asean Wealth Management Summit 2013.

Commenting on international ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service’s recent upgrade on Malaysia’s government bond and issuer ratings from stable to positive, he said Malaysia has demonstrated to the world that it was serious about consolidating its fiscal position.

“Part of this is when we went through with the subsidy rationalisation and when we introduce the goods and services tax (GST) under the Budget 2014 - both are key wealth areas for the government,” he said.