Recently, it has been mostly negative news if any when it comes to Malaysia. From oil prices affecting the economy to oil prices affecting the currency and to oil prices affecting even the Malaysian economy, everything is about how oil prices is wrecking havoc. Even with the decreasing petrol prices, all the restaurants have shown that once prices are up, nothing will come down. Yet, as usual, these popular places continue to be patronised by the so-called ‘poorer’ Malaysians. Fortunately, FORTUNE magazine released its latest top 7 best markets to invest in the category of emerging economies. Malaysia is ranked in these top 7 countries and they include others like India, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia, Poland and Kenya.
This is what they said about us. The current government scrapped fuel subsidies and will introduce a 6% Goods and Services Tax in April which will improve the fiscal position of the country. More foreign investors will be enticed with Najib’s Economic Transformation Program through further tax incentives for foreign investors. The manufacturing and the financial services sector will be liberalised further. As the slowdown is continuing in the region, especially China, the Malaysian government will have to continue spending to boost infrastructure, education and health care. Balancing the budget continue to be on the agenda with a final target of a balanced budget by 2020.
Okay, assuming Fortune is right and they managed to also convince some of these foreign investors to think Malaysia, what should we do? Well, I think it’s time we think harder on where we may want to invest our money in. Properties? Probably. Share market, most probably. Other investments? Yeah, as long as you believe that it would give you better returns than just leaving the money in savings account or even Fixed Deposits which will remain low because Bank Negara Malaysia is likely to maintain the borrowing costs until end of 2015. If you do not believe Fortune’s selection of Malaysia? Well, there are still another 6 other countries which Fortune is touting as worth a serious look. Of course, if these 6 are also not your cup of tea, there are still over one hundred countries in the world which we can move our money to. Just have to choose a few and stick to it for these 5 years and change later. Happy investing.
written on 31 Jan 2015
Next suggested article: Switching for better investment, always.
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