Just over a week ago, this article was clicked and viewed by many. 6 more weeks and the COVID-19 will affect the Malaysian economy badly Fortunately, there has some positive news from China where COVID-19 started. The number of recovered patients are higher than the infected ones. This has been ongoing for at least 5 consecutive days. Okay, elsewhere, Italy and South Korea seem to have some negative news but the centre of it all has shown positive developments. So, how hard would COVID-19 hit our economy? (our = Malaysia yeah)
Article in themalaysianreserve.com AmBank Group chief economist and head of research Dr Anthony Dass said using the estimated GDP forecast of 4.6% and minus 0.4% point, the drop is equivalent to RM5.9 billion. He said, “Slower growth would affect business cashflows and orders. It will add pressure on retrenchment as more companies downsize.”
World Bank said sectors which are impacted by Covid-19 in Malaysia are tourism, foreign direct investment (FDI), supply chains and commodities, which include palm oil and oil and gas (O&G). Hotel room cancellations are up to 157,000 rooms valued at RM66 million and these cancellations mostly come from visitors from mainland China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and Europe.
Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said he foresees growth coming in at around 3% to 3.5% in the first half of 2020 (1H20). He said, “This would mean the economy is operating below its potential level as there are unused resources (labour and capital) in the economy. As such, policy responses from the fiscal and monetary authority are warranted to ensure economic growth can be stabilised.” Please do read the full Article in themalaysianreserve.com
Yes, with a weaker economy, it will definitely affect the demand for property too. I think it’s not so much about people losing their jobs but it’s more of the fact that people do worry about the potential uncertainty. (Plus the political uncertainty these few days which hopefully will be resolved within the next few days) So, for those who believe they have a stable job and found a good property to buy, I think it’s still a go-ahead. A good friend who’s in the IT line just told me that she found a nice large sized-condo in Bangsar and will be buying it. Yea, 7-figure priced and prized property and major reason she is buying is also because it’s close to her parents too. Happy understanding that whether great times or bad times, both do not last forever.
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