Key View

• We believe the upwards revision of Malaysia’s 2025 renewable target in the Twelfth Malaysia Plan will be supported by strong solar power growth.
• The recently introduced Green Electricity Tariff scheme will spur growth of renewables, as it gains interest from multinational companies.
• Our current forecast for non-hydropower renewables

Key View

• Retail sales in Malaysia have yet to reach pre-Covid-19 levels in 2021, owning to the significant impact that Covid-19 had on the capacity of retail operations, as well as the disposable incomes of households.
• While top line retail sales are still below pre-Covid-19 levels, some categories are outperforming. Additionally, there is

Key View

• We at Fitch Solutions still forecast real GDP growth of 1.5% and 5.5% in 2021 and 2022, respectively, following the release of Q321 growth data showing a 3.6% q-o-q s.a. contraction.
• We expect the economy to begin recovering from Q421, with activity likely to benefit from the lifting of most restrictions for fully vaccinated

Key View

• At Fitch Solutions, we believe that consumer spending growth on hot drinks in Malaysia will remain elevated over the coming years, offering significant investment opportunities.
• We forecast household spending on coffee, tea and hot drinks to expand by 4.6% in Malaysia in 2022, reaching MYR5.4bn (USD1.3bn). Over the medium-term (2022

Key View

• We at Fitch Solutions now expect Bank Negara Malaysia to hike its overnight policy rate by 50bps to 2.25% in 2022, compared to a hold throughout previously, in order to rebuild policy buffers.
• We had been highlighting upside risks to our previous hold view from the need to keep up with major central banks which had been signalling a

Key view

• Post-Covid demand for dental devices is driving growth in Malaysian medical device trade.
• Increased dental device demand will support Malaysia medical glove exports as pandemic-related demand subsides.
• Decreasing Covid-19 cases bode well for Malaysia’s economy, and planned easing of restrictions in November will further boost the

Key View

• We forecast household spending in Malaysia to grow by a real rate of 5.1% over 2022, as the consumer recovers from two years of contractions in spending levels. Spending will follow the wider economic recovery, as higher vaccination rates over H122 allow for more localities to lift restrictions that have hampered retail sales.
• We

Key View

• We have revised down our near-term growth forecasts for Malaysia’s power consumption and generation due to persistent headwinds from a Covid-19 resurgence and containment measures in the market.
• A subdued economic outlook and weakened industrial production, particularly for manufacturing, will weigh on power demand and consumption

Key View

• Following the release of the Q221 real GDP growth figure showing a contraction of 2.0% q-o-q, we at Fitch Solutions have revised our real GDP forecast to 0% in 2021 from 4.9% previously, which had only accounted for the risk of nationwide lockdowns persisting in H121, and not for them to run into H221.
• The domestic demand outlook has

Key View

• We at Fitch Solutions have revised Malaysia’s 2021 monetary policy interest rate forecast to 1.75%, from 1.50% previously, and no longer expect the central bank to cut, largely in light of rising inflation.
• We have also revised our average inflation forecast to 2.5% y-o-y from 1.3% y-o-y previously, to reflect low base effects on oil