Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 20, 2023 - February 26, 2023

Taking centre stage this week is Malaysia’s revised Budget 2023, which will be retabled by Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during the first meeting of the Second Session of the 15th Parliament on Friday.

The Dewan Rakyat had on Dec 20 last year unanimously approved RM107.7 billion for operating expenditure under the Consolidated Fund (Accountable Expenditure) Bill 2022.

The original Budget 2023 of RM372.3 billion, the largest allocation in the country’s history, was tabled by then finance minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz on Oct 7, 2022. Three days later, on Oct 10, parliament was dissolved to make way for the 15th general election on Nov 19, 2022.

It is worth noting that January trade statistics will be released on Monday (Feb 20), before the country’s January Consumer Price Index (CPI) is announced on Friday. UOB Global Economics and Markets Research sees Malaysia’s inflation, as measured by the CPI, coming in at 3.7% in January, compared with 3.8% in December last year.

As for other parts of Asia, highlights in the coming week include the release of Singapore’s CPI Inflation report on Thursday, Taiwan’s economic data — including export orders, unemployment rate, GDP and industrial production (to be released between Wednesday and Friday) — as well as the Bank of Korea’s (BoK) meeting on Thursday.

ING expects Singapore’s headline inflation to tick lower, though core inflation will likely remain elevated at 5.2% y-o-y as the latest increase in GST kicks in.

Notably, Singapore Finance Minister Lawrence Wong has announced a fresh round of subsidies to help households deal with the rising cost of living, as he believes inflation will remain elevated for at least the first half of the year.

“Persistent price pressures should keep the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in hawkish mode although it needs to strike a delicate balance as slowing global trade threatens to negatively impact the export sector,” says ING.

As for Taiwan’s economy, ING is of the view that its export orders and industrial production figures will likely give clues about how bad semiconductor demand was in January.

“We expect declines of around 10%-20% y-o-y for both. The final GDP data should show a slight yearly contraction; the advance estimate was -0.86% y-o-y. We expect Taiwan to enter a mild recession in the first half of this year given weak demand for semiconductors, the main pillar of the economy,” says ING.

The South Korean central bank will meet on Thursday. ING believes that the BoK’s rate hike cycle ended with the 25-basis-point hike in January.

“But given that January’s Consumer Price Index picked up again, we are expecting the BoK to maintain its hawkish stance,” it says.

S&P Global Market Intelligence alerts that the flash Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data will be released on Tuesday for a first look into February’s economic conditions across the major developed economies, including the US, the UK, eurozone, Japan and Australia.

“Monetary policy meetings in New Zealand and South Korea will also unfold, while the US Federal Reserve’s January Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes and appearances by Fed members through the week will further keep us busy on the central bank front,” it says.

Other economic data releases include the revised US fourth quarter GDP, January personal income, consumption and core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) data, alongside inflation figures from the eurozone, Germany and Japan.

“This week [last week], we have gleaned from the latest S&P Global Investment Manager Index (IMI) that risk appetite improved among US equity investors in February, reflecting easing perceptions of various market headwinds,” says S&P Global Market Intelligence.

In the courts, the review of jailed former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd conviction and sentence at the Federal Court will be held from Monday to Wednesday.

From Wednesday onwards, former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who was accused of misappropriation of funds and criminal breach of trust (CBT) of more than RM1 million, will be testifying in his own defence at the High Court. The court previously set the upcoming Wednesday to Friday for the resumption of the trial, followed by March 13 and 14, and April 10 to 14.

On the corporate front, Sand Nisko Capital Bhd will be having an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) on Monday. The rubberwood furniture maker needs its shareholders’ approval to issue up to 71.3 million new shares, or 20% of its current share base, within the next six months.

On the same day, highway operator WCE Holdings Bhd will convene an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the proposed disposal of its entire 40% equity interest in Radiant Pillar Sdn Bhd to IJM Properties Sdn Bhd for RM494 million in cash.

The February results season, meanwhile, will be at its peak. According to Bloomberg, companies that are likely to release their latest quarterly earnings include Farm Fresh Bhd, Nestlé Malaysia Bhd, Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, IHH Healthcare Bhd and Genting Plantations Bhd.

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