KUALA LUMPUR (April 14): Malayan Banking Bhd (Maybank) group president and chief executive officer Datuk Seri Abdul Farid Alias said on Thursday (April 14, 2022) that while Maybank's economic forecast for Malaysia has taken into account the impact of the country's Covid-19 endemic transition since April 1, 2022 from pandemic status, the only event that has not been factored into Maybank's forecast is the Russia-Ukraine war, which will have an impact on the global economy.
Speaking at a press conference in conjunction with Maybank's virtual annual general meeting (AGM) here on Thursday, Abdul Farid said that although the direct impact on the Malaysian economy from Russia's invasion of Ukraine "is going to be insignificant", he however cautioned that the Russia-Ukraine conflict's impact on Europe's economy as a potential second-order effect, which may or may not affect the economies of Malaysia and other countries in the Southeast Asian region.
"This is because Europe is a major investor and trade partner for ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and Malaysia. The secondary impact might be relatively significant but it depends on how things will evolve over time," Abdul Farid said.
He said that the Malaysian economic outlook that Maybank gave earlier this year on the country's gross domestic product (GDP), inflation and interest rate had taken into account that the Covid-19 pandemic would become endemic in Malaysia at this point in time.
"We are on target when it comes to the current progress [of the economy] that by April [2022] with regard to the borders that will be reopened and more activities will be permissible outside compared to before.
"The outlook that we have given with respect to the [Malaysian] GDP growth is about 6% and within the 5.3% to 6.3% [growth forecast] that BNM (Bank Negara Malaysia) has, [while Maybank's Malaysia] inflation rate [forecast] is 2.7% and the interest rate or OPR (overnight policy rate) [is seen] at about 2% by the end of this year looking at [the expected] 25-basis-point increase in the final quarter of 2022," Abdul Farid said.
Read also:
Maybank says on track to meet goals under five-year strategic M25 Plan
Maybank looks forward to playing major role in CBDC development
Maybank CEO: No pressure on BNM to raise OPR
Maybank says 22nd dividend reinvestment plan will be completed on April 15 with listing of 91.5 million new shares