KUALA LUMPUR (July 2): World Bank Group believes Malaysia remains a success story in the region, amid the revelation of the RM1 trillion accumulated debt, as well as the financial scandal surrounding the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

“Certainly Malaysia is a success story. And as we see, Malaysia has a very strong economy. It’s moving towards high income economy. What we continue to emphasise and what’s emphasised in this report, is really the importance of looking at the quality of growth, looking at the inclusiveness of growth going forward, how can every Malaysians benefit from the economic success that the country has,” said Dr Mara Warwick, the Malaysia country director with World Bank.

She added that the reforms moving forward will be to ensure it includes health, education and other areas.

Dr Richard Record, the lead economist with World Bank, also agreed with Warwick, saying the forecast for the Malaysian economic growth remains intact and is expected to grow at 5.4% in 2018.