Morning Brief

Malaysia's tourism industry is finally starting to recover, with Tourism Minister Datuk Nancy Shukri projecting a new target of 9.2 million tourist arrivals for 2022. But with global economic conditions set to take a downturn, how can Budget 2023 help tourism players position themselves to compete with international offerings? Nigel Wong of MATTA gives us the outlook for the sector and their wishlist for the budget.

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We speak to Saktiandi Supaat, Head of FX Research, Global Markets, and Maybank Singapore on how emerging market currencies will perform with strengthening US dollar as UK’s newly announced mini-budget sent the pound sterling to record lows.

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The Chairman of the Election Commission estimated GE15 could cost RM1 billion ringgit. How much should the price tag factor into the timeline of the elections? We ask Danesh Prakash Chacko of Tindak Malaysia what he thinks on this.

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Umno President Dato’ Sri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was acquitted of 40 bribery charges last Friday, when the Shah Alam High Court ruled that the prosecution had failed to show a prima facie case against the politician. While his legal issues are far from over, the victory no doubt gives his supporters a morale boost and gives him a lifeline ahead of GE15. We discuss the prospects for Zahid Hamidi and implications of his acquittal for Umno with Dr Bridget Welsh of the University of Nottingham-Asia Research Institute Malaysia.

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With record property transactions in the 1H 2022, we ask Datuk NK Tong, President of The Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association (REHDA) on whether the property market will remain resilient and what would be his wish list for Budget 2023.

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With the inevitable global economic slowdown, what options does the Malaysian economy has to sustain growth? With a RM1 trillion debt and an election pending, are our options limited? Dr. Nungsari A. Radhi, Economist gives us some ideas.

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A group of residents has issued a Letter of Demand to KL City Hall and the Federal Territories Ministry for information on flood mitigation measures being taken. Because let's not forget how last year's monsoon season led to the worst incidents of flooding in the Klang Valley. The latest Attorney General’s Report published last month, also revealed that DBKL has only implemented 7.7% of flood mitigation measures detailed in the 2017 flood management master plan. Lim Wei Jiet is representing the residents.

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A hike in interest rates is positive for banks but less so for neo banks. What then is the path to profitability and how innovative do digital banks have to be to achieve market share? Tamma Febrian, Director of Financial Institutions at Fitch Ratings tells us.

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Despite claiming to champion Malay-Muslim Unity and ostensibly being in the same government, Umno, Bersatu and PAS are constantly at odds with one another. The latest manifestation of this dysfunctional relationship is the war of words between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri and his predecessor, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin of Bersatu. What does all this finger-pointing signal about the timing of GE15? We speak to political analyst Dr. Azmi Hassan for insights.

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With Jerome Powell determined to bring inflation down and taking on very Volcker tones, markets were spooked with 2 Year Treasuries surpassing 4% for the first time since 2007. However will these aggressive rate hikes push the US economy into hard landing? Khoon Goh, Head of Asia Research at ANZ tells us whilst giving us insight into how Asian central banks and also currencies will react.

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