M'sia In Much Better Position To Withstand Challenging Environment

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 9 (Bernama) -- Malaysia has a strong domestic economy and hence, is in a much better position to withstand the challenging environment resulting from the eurozone crisis, says Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia's central bank) Governor Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz. "The eurozone crisis has generated tremendous uncertainty. It has generated tremendous volatility. "But, the point I want to emphasise is, because our market now is more developed, our financial institutions are stronger and the central bank has built up buffers and our reserves are very high, we can intermediate this volatility much better," she told reporters after the launch of the central bank’s MobileLink here Friday. The MobileLink is part of the bank’s efforts in promoting financial inclusion by extending the outreach to a wider community. "Of course, we are going to be affected. We are going to be affected maybe through the trade channel and through the financial market but we are in a much better position. "Our economy is now more diversified and we have a strong domestic economy," she said. Zeti said Malaysia’s export sector would be affected but the domestic economy would remain strong, growing at between six and seven per cent, supported by strong domestic investment and consumption. She said the government was now implementing many of the projects announced earlier and Malaysia had been getting inflow of foreign direct investment into new areas of growth. "All these will support us in a more challenging time. "We also have policy flexibility. Our corporate sector and household sector are not over leveraged. "This is important because these are the issues that the crisis-effected countries are facing, an over leveraged both by the private and public sectors and they have high unemployment. "We are not facing these and have continued access to financing," she said. Zeti said the country never faced an interruption or disruption in credit flows. "All these are very, very critical in supporting our availability to withstand these challenging environment," she said. -- BERNAMA