I'm sure that some of you have watched this clip of Kelvin Tay, from UBS Wealth Management, speaking about the Malaysian economy (https://twitter.com/DavidInglesTV/status/1118381930704191490)
As someone with a little bit of training in economics, what he said was cringeworthy and factually wrong. These are mistakes a good 1st year economics student would not make.
They include:
1. Referring to Malaysia's current account deficit of 3.4% while it should actually be the fiscal deficit.
2. Saying that the government is going to scale back expenditure leading to the economy "shrinking back further". As far as I know, projections for GDP growth in Malaysia are still on track to be at more than 4% for 2019, not "shrinking" as he claims.
3. Saying that 30% of Malaysia's GDP is reliant on oil. While the oil & gas sector is an important part of the economy, it is nowhere near 30% of the country's GDP. I think he was referring to 30% of government revenue.
4. Saying that the political paralysis will not lead to anything being done in the country. Au contraire, the new government has done quite a fair bit including cleaning up the GLCs and GLICs such as FGV and Tabung Haji and renegotiating mega infra projects such as the ECRL, the MRT2 and LRT3 projects which will contribute to massive govt savings in the long run.
I'm surprised that an international bank would have someone at such a senior level who can't get his basic economics right. It's fair game to criticize the Malaysian government on some of our policies but it's totally unprofessional to get even your basic economic facts wrong.
I will reach out to UBS in Singapore where Kelvin is based to express my views on this matter.
Created by Tan KW | Aug 25, 2024
Created by Tan KW | Aug 25, 2024
Created by Tan KW | Aug 25, 2024
Created by Tan KW | Aug 25, 2024
Created by Tan KW | Aug 25, 2024
Created by Tan KW | Aug 25, 2024
Hevajra9999
Well said, Dr. Ong. UOB President should reprimand him for making such a shallow and foolish comment and this kiasu-guy should be sacked immediately. Anyway, there are plenty of similar species out there, just opened your eyes and think critically when you read Bloomberg's news and comments.
2019-04-19 16:29