Malaysia’s Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz stated that the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) is not known to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. He added that this was because the 12MP, which spans the period 2021-2025, was a long-term economic strategy and the Government of Malaysia was already preparing a new economic recovery plan to be unveiled at the end of May 2020. He added that the 2021 Budget, which is scheduled to be released in October or November 2020, will consider existing economic conditions. He also highlighted that the...

The United Arab Emirates-based National Takaful Company’s (Watania) Financial Strength Ranking of B (Fair) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "bb+" has been affirmed by US based credit rating agency AM Best, with a Positive Outlook on these credit ratings. The Positive Outlook reflects the enhanced operating performance of the company in past years following the successful implementation of its business strategy set by the new management team. The ratings reflect Watania's strong balance sheet underpinned by risk-adjusted capitalisation, as measured by AM Bes...

RAM Ratings (RAM) revised the Outlook for Zamarad Assets’ (ZA) Tranche 1 Class B Sukuk Murabahah to Positive from Stable, projecting its expectation that the Sukuk's asset coverage will strengthen to a level equivalent to higher ratings in the near future, given its current performance. RAM also reaffirmed the respective AAA and AA2 ratings of the Class A and Class B Sukuk of ZA’s Tranche 1. Meanwhile, RAM also reaffirmed the AAA ratings of the Class A and Class B Sukuk under Tranches 3 to 5 of Al Dzahab Assets’(ADA) Sukuk Muraba...

Minister in Malaysia’s Prime Minister’s Department (Economy), Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed has requested small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to be more progressive in strengthening their digital development capabilities in order to be on par with their counterparts in other developing countries.  He urged this upon learning that there are SMEs that do not embrace technology and thus have not gained from it. Mustapa said that technology-focused SMEs are far more versatile in increasing their market activities and enhancing productivity.  ...

Saudi Arabia has pledged SAR 2 billion (USD 533.3 million) to help finance agricultural products and ensure food safety in the wake of the current pandemic, according to a statement by the country's Agriculture Development Fund. The initiative will be implemented through both direct and indirect financing facilities, focusing initially on products such as soya beans, yellow corn, rice and sugar.  The statement added that the initiative aims to meet development priorities and economic needs in the context of urgent projects approved by the Government of Saudi Arabia to tackle the im...

Bank Indonesia (BI) is optimistic that Indonesia's economy will continue to improve in the second quarter of 2020 despite the country reporting Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 2.97% in the first quarter, the lowest in two decades. BI Governor, Perry Warjiyo stated that, with the right government policies and stimulus measures, he was optimistic that Indonesia would report a positive 0.2-0.4% GDP growth in the current quarter (April-June 2020). Warjiyo added that BI predicts Indonesia’s GDP to grow at 1.2% in the July-September 2020 quarter and at 3.1% in...

A free trade agreement worth USD 18 billion in agriculture, education and health services between Australia and Indonesia is expected to be activated in the next two months, with the Australian Trade Minister Simon Birmingham claiming that 99% of Australian exports will reach Indonesia duty-free or under significantly improved conditions, once the deal is in effect.  Birmingham identified this as the most extensive bilateral trade deal that Indonesia had ever inked, which will give Australian exporters a competitive advantage, especially at a time when many are suffering as a...

Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Analysis (Fitch Solutions) predicts that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will reduce the overnight policy rate (OPR) by another 100 basis points (bps) to 1.0% by the end of 2020, in an effort to revive demand and market operations that are now languishing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The rating agency stated that Malaysia's economy has weakened dramatically as a result of the movement control order (MCO) imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19, adding that the eventual relaxation of restrictions is unlikely to spark an imminen...

Malaysian Rating Corporation (MARC) has assigned a final rating of A+is to Malaysia’s Tropicana Corporation’s (TC) proposed MYR 1.5 billion Islamic Medium-Term Notes via a Sukuk Wakalah programme. Proceeds from the proposed Sukuk will mainly be used to refinance TC’s existing borrowings and to partially meet working capital requirements.MARC had previously assigned a preliminary rating of A+is to TC which has now been finalized. The ratings were finalized based on TC’s established market position in property development, stable and recurring income from property inves...

Several Malaysian banks have announced cuts in lending rates following Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) drastic cut in interest rates on the 5th of May 2020, bringing the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) to its lowest level since 2010. Malayan Banking (Maybank) and CIMB Group Holdings were the first banks to announce rate cut after BNM’s OPR was reduced by 50 basis points (bps) to 2.00%.According to Maybank, its base rate (BR) would be lowered to 2.00% from 2.50% per annum, while its base lending rate (BLR) would be cut to 5.65% from 6.15%, with similar cuts for its Islamic banking operat...