Morning Brief

The government has a fiscal deficit target of 4.3% for 2024 and 3.0-3.5% for 2025. To achieve that goal, widening the government's revenue base seems obvious. Is tax reform the solution and what should the government focus on? Soh Lian Seng, Head of Tax at KPMG Malaysia gives us his views.

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Malaysia's F&B sector recorded RM229 billion in revenue last year and is projected to grow at an annual rate of 8% until 2027. Dato’ Jawahar Ali Taib Khan, President of Persatuan Pengusaha Restoran Muslim Malaysia (PRESMA), shares his wishlist and addresses issues facing the industry, from subsidy cuts to the introduction of new taxes amongst market participants.

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Joko Widodo will be handing over Indonesia's presidency to the elected Prabowo Subianto, after a decade in power where he governed for two terms. Johannes Nugroho, a writer and political analyst discusses the legacy that Jokowi is leaving behind while anticipating what Prabowo might bring to Indonesian politics.

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Last year’s budget reflected the renewed ambition of the Madani Government to accelerate the country’s energy transition and catalyse new investments in the green economy. But this cannot be divorced from the broader climate action agenda of reducing carbon emissions, including the importance of nature-based policies. How can Budget 2025 best balance all the necessary elements for an effective national climate strategy? Dr. Gary Theseira of Climate Governance Malaysia weighs in.

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China's property sector has been experiencing a prolonged downturn since its 2021 peak, prompting Beijing to come up with various stimuli to address the issues. Kristy Hung, the senior industry analyst of Asia real estate at Bloomberg Intelligence analyses the impact of these measures and whether or not more could be done.

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Singapore’s economy grew by 4.1% in the third quarter this year, beating economist projections and outpacing Q2 growth of 2.9%. Meanwhile, the Monetary Authority of Singapore also maintained its policy settings amid inflation outlook risk. We discuss what’s in store for the Singapore economy for the remainder of the year with Selena Ling of OCBC Bank.

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Tourism and hospitality players are hoping for an RM85 million allocation when Budget 2025 is tabled, to improve Malaysia's tourism industry. This comes as Malaysia achieved 60% of its full-year target of 27.3 million international tourists for 2024. Nigel Wong, President at Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), shares his insights.

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Beijing held a long-awaited press conference last Saturday to reveal some details on the fiscal stimulus such as the issuing of special bonds and making it easier for local governments to borrow money, though no figures have been revealed yet. We speak to Brock Silvers, CIO of Kaiyuan Capital to get his input on whether the latest stimulus package will indeed help boost China’s floundering economy.

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As part of our pre-budget series, we explore the demands and expectations of construction players. In Budget 2024, the government rolled out several big-ticket projects, such as the Pan Borneo Sabah Phase 1-B and the Penang LRT. Will this year be the same or even better? We speak with Oliver Wee, President of the Master Builders Association Malaysia (MBAM), about his budget wish list.

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Global supply chains have faced numerous challenges this year, everything from geopolitics to severe weather to limited vessel capacity and most recently a port workers' strike in the US. Chris Rogers, Head of Supply Chain Research at S&P Global Market Intelligence gives us an analysis of the current situation and what this might signal for the future.

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