MALAYSIA
More of the same : Prime Minister Najib Razak and the governing coalition were returned to office in May after a bitterly fought election in which it lost more support from non-Malay voters who believe years of affirmative action for Malays have only entrenched cronyism and corruption.
With political risks subsiding, the focus has turned to fiscal reforms to spur growth after disappointing first-half GDP expansion of 4.2% in the first half, though the figure improved to 5 in the third quarter.
Economic challenges Before Najib could warm his seat the government was given a reality check by Fitch Ratings, which downgraded Malaysia’s outlook to negative because of poor government financial management. The premier, who is also finance minister, containing several bold measures, focusing largely on reducing the deficit to 3.5% of GDP in 2014 and 3.0% in 2015, the goods and services tax (GST) will be introduced, and subsidy cuts will save the government billions of ringgit a year. As a result, Moody’s recently affirmed Malaysia’s ratings at A3 and changed the outlook to positive from stable.