KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia government officials confirmed on Wednesday that they expect the country's economy to remain strong, growing at some 4.2 percent for this year, despite worries that the Eurozone crisis could become a factor for the Southeast Asian country. It comes as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday said its outlook for five ASEAN economies would remain unchanged, including Malaysia. In its latest World Economic Outlook released from Washington, the IMF projected a 5.4 percent regional growth for 2012 and 6.1 percent growth for 2013, a marginal drop from its previous projection and shows the region is pushing forward on economic stability and growth. The international economic body, however, warned that the second half of 2012 would see much weaker growth in both advanced and key emerging markets as a result of the European debt crisis and a lack of investment heading to the country. In its report, the IMF said that growth momentum in the second quarter slowed in various emerging markets economies notably Brazil, China and India while incoming data for the US also suggest less robust growth. “The euro area periphery has been at the epicentre of a further escalation in financial market stress, triggered by rising political and financial uncertainty in Greece and banking sector problems in Spain,” a report by Business Times said in discussing the IMF statement. Downside risks to this weaker global outlook continue to loom large, the IMF added. The most immediate risk is still that delayed or insufficient policy action will further escalate the euro area crisis. For Malaysia, 4.2 percent is still a strong figure, government officials say and it gives the country some leeway to expand on infrastructure projects around the country.
