Malaysia braces for positive 2004
AFP, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia is gearing up for a positive 2004, with the economy seen as growing at its fastest pace in four years to become one of Asia's top stars amid rising optimism after Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's landslide election victory, analysts say. The central bank Friday raised its economic growth target this year to 6.0-6.5 percent, up from 5.5 to 6.0 percent previously, after a better-than-expected showing of 5.2 percent in 2003. For the second time in a year, Bank Negara Malaysia also eased exchange control rules to cut the cost of doing business as part of a drive to boost competitiveness and curb a flight of investors to lower-cost countries such as China. It announced it would implement a new interest rate framework in the next few months to improve efficiency in the financial markets and assured rates would remain low. But it rejected pressure to free-float the local currency, fixed at 3.80 to the dollar since 1998, saying in its annual report that the peg was still sustainable despite the weaker US unit and crucial to boost trade and investment.
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