Morning Brief

During GE15, there was a considerable increase in support for Perikatan Nasional among the Malay vote base. This has sparked debate on how much opposition parties should be empowered, with measures to level the playing field such as the provision of equal constituency development funding put on hold. Dato' Sri Anwar Ibrahim has long campaigned for political reforms, but will populist concerns and...

Under the Low Carbon Mobility Blueprint, Malaysia has set a target of achieving 700,000 EVs on the road by 2030 and 10,000 charging stations by 2025. However, given that we're starting from a 2023 base of 2000 EVs and 1000 charging stations, what kind of policies are needed to achieve these goals? Mohd Junaizee Mohd Noor of ZEVA gives us his assessment of Budget 2023 incentives and further me...

It has been a great start so far for Malaysian women in 2023. The Cabinet has agreed to amend the Federal Constitution to confer automatic Malaysian citizenship to children born overseas to Malaysian mothers, the Employment Act was amended to increase the duration of maternity and paternity leave, and Socso will have grants to encourage women to return to work. Louise Tan, Head of Campaigns at the...

The Covid-19 pandemic disproportionately affected women's share of employment, with the share of women in middle and senior leadership positions stagnating. If education and skills levels are comparable, why do women continue to have fewer opportunities for career progression? We discuss the implications of the underutilisation of women in the workforce with Katrina Ell of Moody's Analytics. Image...

Over the weekend, United Nation member states finally agreed to a text on the first international treaty to protect the high seas. The treaty, which took years of negotiations, is crucial for enforcing the 30x30 pledge made by countries at the UN biodiversity conference in December. What is the significance and implications of the agreement for the conservation of ocean biodiversity? We discuss th...

Last week, former Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak was acquitted by the High Court over the tampering of the 1MDB audit report. Separately, the government announced that a deal had been reached with Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth funds IPIC and its subsidiary Aabar Investments for $1.8 billion US dollars. What's the update on all this and how much can Malaysia recoup from on-going settlements with...

Monsoon season is far from over, as heavy rain in several states wreak havoc in Johor, Pahang and Melaka. At least 5 people have been killed so far, while more than 50,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes. With climate change creating unprecedented weather events, how can flood risks be better mitigated? We get updates and recommendations from Dato' Dr Ahmad Faizal Mohd Perdaus, Pre...

The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) declared a dividend rate of 5.35% for conventional savings and 4.75% for Shariah Savings for 2022. This was lower than 2021’s rate of 6.1% and 5.65% respectively. Pankaj C. Kumar, Business Commentator gives us his comments on their performance and how we can rebuild the savings of Malaysia after RM145billion was withdrawn during the pandemic. Image credit: Shutter...

Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Anwar Ibrahim and his unity government have weathered 100 days in office to mixed results. Anwar has managed to marry parties that were once on opposing sides, namely PH and BN, and bring about a degree of stability in Malaysian politics. However with so many political stakeholders to please coupled with the upcoming State elections, the Prime Minister has a lot to ponder...

China’s annual National People’s Congress started yesterday morning, an important political event watched closely that will last until March 13. At the opening, Premier Li Keqiang gave his last government report whilst outlining a gross domestic product (GDP) target of 5% for 2023. Alfredo Montufar-Helu, Head of the China Center for Economics and Business, The Conference Board gives us observation...

In the revised Budget 2023, Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Anwar Ibrahim said that people who were declared bankrupt deserved a second chance and announced several measures that would provide a lifeline to those who find themselves in these unwanted circumstances. We speak to Linnet Lee, CEO of Financial Planning Association of Malaysia to understand why the rise in bankruptcy cases and what are the pos...

Under the revised Budget 2023, the government increased funding for the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) and doubled allocations to the Ecological Fiscal Transfer for Biodiversity Conservation. How far do these measures go to protect the environment and wildlife? On World Wildlife Day, we discuss policy recommendations to improve environmental sustainability wi...

Tesla CEO Elon Musk presented his long-awaited Master Plan Part 3 during the annual Investor Day conference this week. Musk and his team announced that  assembly costs would be cut by half in future generations of cars, but he did not unveil a small, affordable electric vehicle option as was hoped. What does this bode for the company's outlook? Dan Ives gives us his takeaways from Invest...

Last Saturday marked the 37th anniversary of the “People Power Revolution” that brought down the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos after two decades of rule. In a twist of fate, the son of the ousted leader is now the President of the country. How is President Ferdinand "Bong Bong" Marcos contending with his family's contentious legacy? We get insights from political analyst Andrea Ch...

Prime Minister Dato' Sri Anwar Ibrahim has made social justice and tackling inequality a benchmark of his MADANI philosophy. How well do his Budget 2023 initiatives achieve those aims? We get reactions from Dr. Michael Jeyakumar of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM). Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The government has made tackling cybercrimes a priority, with RM10 million allocated to the National Scam Response Centre in Budget 2023. The Prime Minister has also called for banks to provide a "kill switch" to allow users to freeze their accounts when suspicious transactions are flagged. We speak to cybersecurity expert Dr. Selvakumar Manickam for his recommendations to counter online fraud and...

Budget 2023 introduced a luxury tax which would be implemented this year as a new step to broaden the tax base to those who had the means. However, details on what luxury goods actually are and what rate the tax will be have yet to be finalised. Tan Hai Hsin, Managing Director of Retail Group Malaysia, talks about how the local retail sector might be impacted. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnyst...

The Ministry of Health received the second highest budget allocation at RM36.3 billion ringgit, amounting to 9% of the total budget. While generous on paper, does it address the urgent needs of the public healthcare sector for both the short and long-term? Azrul Khalib of the Galen Centre gives us his assessment.   Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

Export volumes for the Asia Pacific region have been seeing a steady decline as 2022 drew to a close, with China’s exports falling year-on-year in October, for the first time since May 2020. Alex Holmes, Senior Economist at Oxford Economics talks about the scenario going forward as consumption patterns change. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There were a plethora of goodies for SMEs in Budget 2023, most notably the cut in corporate tax by 2% to 15%. But does this go far enough in terms of assistance needed? Chin Chee Seong, National Secretary General of the SME Association of Malaysia tells us whilst offering his own suggestions. Image credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Education Ministry received the biggest slice of the Budget 2023 pie with an allocation of 55.2 billion ringgit. Close to 90% of this increase in allocation will be used to upgrade and maintain buildings and amenities of schools. Some other initiatives include distribution of 50 thousand laptops and increase in allocation for several food program to address poverty and malnutrition. So does Bu...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's popularity was already declining even before the massive earthquakes that hit the country on February 6th, with the economy in the doldrums amplified by the President’s unconventional monetary policies. However the devastation from the disaster, which the World Bank estimates at USD$34 billion, has raised public furor towards the government. What impact mig...

PKR announced that the dates of the anticipated 6 state elections will be unveiled before the end of March. The six states are the three PH-controlled Negeri Sembilan, Penang and Selangor, as well as PAS-led Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. While seat negotiations will be difficult to balance but more importantly, Prime Minister, Anwar will be under pressure to deliver and show that the current gov...

At first glance, Budget 2023 which is the largest in history at RM388.1bn seems at odds when the Prime Minister has repeatedly warned of our mounting debts. We speak to Sim Kwang Gek Country Tax Leader at Deloitte Malaysia for the her views on the new tax regime that offers tax cuts for the M40 whilst raising it for the T20. We also consider if the Government is serious about its net zero target b...

Budget 2023 was the highest spending allocation ever at RM 386.1 billion (or 20.4% of GDP) compared to the initial budget tabled last year which was RM 372.2 billion. The revised budget will see the government spending RM289.1 billion on operating expenditure and RM99 billion development expenditure. However, given there was an absence of GST and target rationalisation of subsidies, did this maide...