Category: Business

KUALA LUMPUR, HSBC has forecast Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 4.5 per cent for 2024, slightly above consensus with an upside risk. Its co-head of Global Research Asia and chief Asia economist, Frederic Neumann, said the forecast was supported by the country’s robust economic performance and the incoming inflows of foreign investments. ‘We also expect a pickup in trade over the second half (2H) of this year, benefitting mainly from consumer electronics,’ he said in the HSBC 2H 2024 Asian Outlook webinar today. Neumann said Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, have continued to perform well in their economies,

SUBANG, Relevant parties should have offered AirAsia Group compensation following the global IT outage, said Capital A Bhd chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes. He said the relevant parties needed to be responsible for last Friday’s situation, which affected the airline services. ‘The principle is that if we do something wrong, we have to compensate. We, other airlines, and other businesses lost a lot. ‘They should offer us compensation, and right now, we have to wait and see,’ he told reporters after launching AirAsia’s operations at the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, here today. Last Friday, major

KUALA LUMPUR, Global property consultancy Knight Frank has ‘a positive forecast’ for Kuala Lumpur’s prime office rent over the next 12 months, according to its Asia-Pacific (APAC) Prime Office Rental Index for the second quarter of 2024 (2Q 2024). In a statement today, it said the data shows a 2.6 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in rents, alongside a 0.2 per cent quarterly rise, which suggests ‘a stable and healthy outlook for the market.’ ‘The forecast suggests that the office rental market in Kuala Lumpur is expected to remain stable, reflecting a balanced environment and this stability is a positive

KUALA LUMPUR, HSBC has forecast Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 4.5 per cent for 2024, slightly above consensus with an upside risk. Its co-head of Global Research Asia and chief Asia economist, Frederic Neumann, said the forecast was supported by the country’s robust economic performance and the incoming inflows of foreign investments. ‘We also expect a pickup in trade over the second half (2H) of this year, benefitting mainly from consumer electronics,’ he said in the HSBC 2H 2024 Asian Outlook webinar today. Neumann said Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, have continued to perform well in their economies,

KUALA LUMPUR, The Sarawak government’s plan to increase its stake in Affin Bank Bhd to around 30 per cent from the current 4.8 per cent could be a ‘double win’, realising high or reasonable returns from its investment. Reorienting the bank’s lending focus could also accelerate economic development, especially if the projects are bankable, Professor Dr Yeah Kim Leng, the deputy president of the Malaysian Economic Association, told Bernama. ‘In addition to Sarawak’s large-scale financing needs to develop its oil and gas, hydropower and hydrogen, carbon capture, plantation, and energy-intensive industries, its small and medium enterprises also require access to