Morning Brief

This Sunday, leaders from government, business and civil society spheres will convene in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for the United Nations Conference of Parties climate summit, or COP27. Although countries pledged to implement more ambitious climate change plans after last year’s COP26 in Glasgow, only 24 countries out of 193 have actually submitted updated plans to the UN. As the world experiences more extreme weather patterns and natural disasters, will leaders prioritize action over rhetoric to combat climate change? We discuss expectations for the summit with sustainability expert Dr Renard Siew.

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As widely expected, Bank Negara raised the overnight policy rate yesterday by 25 bps, bringing the OPR rate to 2.75%. But with the Fed warning of a higher peak Fed Funds Rate, can BNM continue its gradual increase in interest rate or does it need to adopt a more aggressive stance? We discuss implications of monetary policy tightening with economist Firdaos Rosli.

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Pakatan Harapan launched its manifesto for GE15 with 10 key objectives with a focus on improving livelihoods and eradicating corruption. We speak to Fahmi Fadzil, Communications Director, PKR as to whether it's too idealistic and whether their promises will be kept.

Pakatan Harapan launched its manifesto for GE15 with 10 key objectives with a focus on improving livelihoods and eradicating corruption. We speak to Fahmi Fadzil, Communications Director, PKR as to whether it's too idealistic and whether their promises will be kept.

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Malaysia has produced 5.5 million graduates from higher education institutions to date. But are universities producing graduates with the skills and critical thinking to thrive in our economy? We speak to Dr Sharifah Munirah Alatas, Senior Lecturer at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia on much-needed reforms in higher education.

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The US mid-term elections act as a temperature check for the President in power, and historically the mid-terms tend to favour the party in opposition to the government. The Democratic Party stands to lose their control of both Houses of Congress as a wave of discontent over the economy sours opinions on Joe Biden. How might the outcome of these polls shape the direction of US policy moving forward? We speak to Bob Shapiro of Columbia University for insights ahead of November 8th.

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Both Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional announced the bulk of their candidates for GE15 in parallel events last night. What does the candidate line-up tell us about their respective strategies for the elections? We discuss the emerging political trends with Dr Bridget Welsh, Honorary Research Associate at University of Nottingham Malaysia.

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Both Barisan Nasional and Perikatan Nasional announced the bulk of their candidates for GE15 in parallel events last night. What does the candidate line-up tell us about their respective strategies for the elections? We discuss the emerging political trends with Dr Bridget Welsh, Honorary Research Associate at University of Nottingham Malaysia.

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Bread and butter grievances like rising inflation, unemployment and stagnant wages continue to be voters’ main concern as we head into GE15. Even though Malaysia witnessed an 8.9% growth in GDP for the second quarter of this year, we continue to see the weakness of our currency as between January and September this year, the ringgit has depreciated by 10.2% against the US dollar. And with the global economy slowing down in 2023, can Malaysia’s economy sustain its growth momentum and what should be the economic priorities of the next government? For some answers we speak to Dr Geoffrey Williams, Economist, Malaysia University of Science and Technology.

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The China property market appears to be in a perfect storm. Monthly National sales decline continued to decline by 15.3% year-on-year in September 2022, narrowing from a 20.8% year-on-year decline in August. Developers' liquidity will also remain under pressure. But the Chinese government introduced new stimulus measures in late September to encourage homebuyers to purchase new properties. Will this be enough to lift near term sentiment or is the sector spiralling into a long term structural decline? For answers, we speak to Bernard Aw, Economist for Asia Pacific, Coface.

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