KUALA LUMPUR (May 9): It has been close to a week since all economic sectors were allowed to open under the Conditional Movement Control Order, giving the economy a slight jumpstart after almost two months of benign activity.

However, confidence in the economy has not returned, and understandably so, given the fact that the coronavirus still lurks in Malaysia, though the number of cases has drastically been reduced since the start of the MCO.

A recent survey conducted by the Centre for Governance and Political Studies (Cent-GPS) to understand the financial wellbeing of Malaysian households under the Movement Control Order (MCO) shows that 87% of Malaysians are worried about the effects of COVID-19 on the economy.

Consumer sentiment has been weak since the start of the MCO, judging by the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research’s Consumer Sentiments Index (CSI) which plunged to 51.1 in the first quarter of 2020 — its lowest level since 1988.

With such grim statistics and with a pandemic on our hands, how do we instil economic confidence? We speak to  economists, academicians, management consultants and think tank researchers about this.

In our accompanying story, we speak to the business community on how they are rebooting their businesses post MCO.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/bringing-confidence-back-economy