Malaysia to inject $1.4b into stock market

Malaysia will inject 1.4 billion dollars into the ailing stock market and cut its growth forecast for 2009 amid a worsening global financial crisis, the Finance Minister said Monday.
Najib Razak also said the government may review its 2008 and 2009 fiscal deficit forecast and scale back on infrastructure projects "with limited economic multiplier effect" for the year to cushion the impact of the economic crisis.
"We had projected GDP growth of 5.4 percent for 2009. However in the light of the worsening external developments, the growth forecast for 2009 will be reviewed downwards," Najib said in a speech at a conference in Kuala Lumpur.
In a separate event, the finance minister said Malaysia will not slide into recession, following its major trading partner the United States, which is in the middle of an economic crisis.
"Malaysia will not go into recession," he said, according to state Bernama news agency.
A leading think-tank last Thursday slashed its 2009 economic growth forecast for the country to 3.4 from 5.0 percent, and said there was a risk of recession if the US economy falls.
Earlier, Najib said the government will double the size of its state-run investment company Valuecap Sdn. Bhd, which was formed in 2003 to invest in under-valued, but fundamentally strong shares, by pumping in an additional 5 billion ringgit (1.4 billion dollars).