MALAYSIA UNVEILS USD 16 BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUALA LUMPUR 000195 STATE PASS USTR - WEISEL AND BELL STATE PASS FEDERAL RESERVE AND EXIMBANK STATE PASS FEDERAL RESERVE SAN FRANCISCO TCURRAN SINGAPORE PASS TO SBAKER USDOC FOR 4430/MAC/EAP/M.HOGGE TREASURY FOR OASIA AND IRS GENEVA FOR USTR SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2019 TAGS: EFIN EINV ECON ETRD PGOV MY SUBJECT: MALAYSIA UNVEILS USD 16 BILLION ECONOMIC STIMULUS PACKAGE Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Rob Rapson for reasons 1.4 (b) a nd (d) ¶1. (C) Summary and Comment: Facing rapidly slowing growth and a probable recession in 2009, Malaysia announced its second fiscal stimulus package on March 10. The larger than expected stimulus package includes additional spending, guarantees, equity investments and tax incentives amounting to a total of RM 60 billion (USD 16 billion) over a two-year period. While the GOM hopes this package will support GDP growth in the near term, it may well drive Malaysia,s fiscal deficit level to 7.6 percent of GDP for 2009, making Malaysia a prime candidate for a sovereign credit downgrade by international ratings agencies. Analysts question the efficacy of the stimulus package and expressed disappointment at the lack of specific reforms which Deputy Prime Minister Najib and other GOM officials had said were being debated for inclusion as part of the stimulus plan to improve the competitiveness of Malaysia,s economy. Rather this package, among other things, will increase market-distorting subsidies and add 63,000 civil service jobs, the sector with the least stimulative capacity. The inability of the government to include much-needed reforms in the stimulus package raises questions whether Najib -- who is expected to take over as Prime Minister in a few weeks -- will have the political strength and commitment to implement the kinds of reforms he earlier promised. End summary and comment. THE PRICE TAG: USD 16 BILLION ¶2. (U) On March 10 Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Finance Najib Tun Razak unveiled Malaysia's second economic stimulus package for RM 60 billion (USD 16 billion) over the next two years, significantly more than expected by most analysts who had predicted RM 10 to 35 billion (USD 2.7 to 9.5 billion) over the same two-year period. The new package, which amounts to approximately 9 percent of Malaysia's GDP, comes on the heels of a RM 7 billion (USD 1.9 billion) stimulus announced on November 8. WHAT'S IN IT ¶3. (U) According to the DPM, the emphasis of the package is �00A;on cushioning job markets and disposable incomes; fostering access to credit and reducing the cost of doing business; and infrastructure and construction expenditures. The breakdown of the USD 16 billion package includes: 1) USD 4 billion in additional spending, including on worker re-training, 63,000 new civil service jobs, post-graduate education, schools, roads, subsidies for food and utilities, and a host of other expenses; 2) USD 6.8 billion in "guarantee funds" (which are contingent liabilities, not an immediate expense); 3) USD 2.7 billion in equity investments through Khazanah, Malaysia's Government-linked Investment Corporation; 4) USD 1.9 billion in private financing and off-budget projects, including expansion of the Penang airport and a fourth airport in the Kuala Lumpur area; and 5) USD 811 million in tax incentives, including double tax deductions for employers hiring laid-off workers. While the plan includes a laundry list of goals, much of the language is vague and figures are provided for only some categories. The complete release is available at www.treasury.gov.my. FISCAL POLICY: DEFICIT UP, BUT DEBT LEVELS STILL MANAGEABLE ¶4. (SBU) The new stimulus package is expected to push Malaysia's fiscal deficit to 7.6 percent of GDP in 2009, according to official figures, but private analysts' forecasts range from 7.8 to 10 percent, and predict government revenues to come in below official forecasts. The GOM already was running a deficit of 4.8 percent of GDP before the economic crisis and stimulus packages. Dr. Yeah Kim Leng, Managing Director and Chief Economist for Rating Agency Malaysia, told visiting U.S. Treasury Office Director for East Asia and the Pacific Chris Winship and Econoff that Malaysia has been running deficits of approximately 2 to 3 percent since the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. He projected deficit levels to be "ugly" for the next three to five years, and said international ratings agencies would be examining KUALA LUMP 00000195 002 OF 003 the figures closely. While debt levels were currently at a "very manageable" 40 percent of GDP, a sharply increasing fiscal deficit could bring Malaysia a downgrade. That said, Yeah believed GOM would be able to finance an increased deficit by tapping domestic liquidity, including the Employee Provident Fund, Malaysia,s national pension program. ¶5. (SBU) On February 20, Mohamed Irwan Serigar, Undersecretary for Economic and International Division, Ministry of Finance, told Winship and Econoff that he did not think the GOM should fret over its increasing deficit or a potential downgrade by ratings agencies. Especially in an environment where numerous other countries likely would be downgraded as well, the bigger risk was doing too little. A long recession would be much more painful than a downgrade, he said. REVISED GROWTH FIGURES ANNOUNCED ¶6. (SBU) Mr. Ooi Sang Kuang, Deputy Governor at Bank Negara, pointed to declining exports as the primary source of Malaysia's economic woes, as both commodity prices and demand for electronics in Malaysia,s major export markets fall. He opined that the first two quarters of 2009 would see negative growth but the second half would see a turnaround when the impacts of the stimulus would begin to be felt. The challenge would be to instill confidence after those negative figures come out and ensure the stimulus packages would be effective. ¶7. (SBU) Ooi told the Embassy that the stimulus package was designed to support 2009 GDP growth, which the GOM has since revised downward to between -1 and 1 percent in line with what most analysts predicted. He acknowledged that the recessionary outlook for the U.S. and other developed country economies would have a significant impact on Malaysia, which would not be able to export its way to strong growth as it did during the Asian Financial Crisis of the late 1990s and would need to focus on strengthening domestic demand. WITHER PROMISED REFORMS? ¶8. (SBU) Unfortunately, analysts noted that the stimulus package included no economic reforms or restructuring, in spite of Deputy Prime Minister Najib's earlier announcements that the package would include measures "to make Malaysia more competitive" in the global economy. It includes only vague, future-tense language noting, "The Government will take steps to liberalize the services sector," but no details about what will be liberalized, when, or to what extent. In February GOM officials told visiting Treasury Office Director for Asia and the Pacific Christopher Winship and Econoff that reforms were being discussed for inclusion in the stimulus plan, including reform of the National Economic Policy (NEP) which has given preferential treatment to ethnic Malays for nearly 40 years and is widely perceived as the economy's biggest obstacle to growth. ¶9. (SBU) Reactions to the government,s economic stimulus plan, predictably, have been mixed. Citi Investment Research and Morgan Stanley analysts reported that the amount was higher than expected but are disappointed at the lack of reform and some critics are skeptical with regard to implementation. Ruling party politicians singled out areas for praise, while opposition members highlighted shortcomings, notably that it was insufficiently focused on the poor. The opposition also complained that contracts likely will be awarded to cronies, and that implementation will be too slow to impact the economy before the fourth quarter. ¶10. (SBU) Yeah explained that Malaysia had excess liquidity; the savings rate was 15 to 16% of GDP. Nevertheless, the bond market had "dried up" and IPO issuances had come to a standstill. There was an overall lack of confidence in the economy, exacerbated by a persistent view that there were limited investment opportunities in Malaysia. The GOM needed to figure out how to unlock the RM 177 billion in savings KUALA LUMP 00000195 003 OF 003 (down from RM 180 billion, but still high) without significantly increasing deficit spending, he said. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE FIRST STIMULUS? ¶11. (C) The RM 7 billion (USD 2 billion) stimulus unveiled in November had not yet hit the ground, explained Dr. Sukhdave Singh, Director of Bank Negara's Monetary Assessment and Strategy Department. The public perceived it as having been ineffective, but the fact was that the money was still with agencies and Ministries and had not been disbursed. Yeah added that, with its focus on construction, the first stimulus package was poorly targeted: the vast majority of the construction sector labor force in Malaysia was foreign. (Note: A number of interlocutors were dismissive of foreign workers, contribution to the Malaysian economy, including their contribution to productivity and consumption. There was a general sense that unemployment did not pose a significant problem if it was confined to foreign workers, and only grudging acknowledgement that foreign workers made a sizeable contribution to Malaysian output and growth. End note.) KEITH