Malaysia's fiscal policy effective, says Moody's

Malaysia's monetary policy is effective in ensuring adequate levels of liquidity, banking stability and low inflation, said Moody's Investors Service.

The rating agency said the country's large domestic institutional investor base and net foreign assets also provided ample buffer against financial shocks.

"Headline inflation averaged 2.6 percent over the past decade, lower than similarly rated peers," it said in a note today.

Although nearly 40 percent of the country's price basket was subjected to administrative controls, inflation was more stable compared with other countries with similarly extensive subsidy framework like India, Indonesia, and Qatar.

"Over the last 10 years, Malaysia demonstrated one of the lowest levels of inflation among the sovereign that we rate, and this situation has helped anchor domestic interest rates," it said.

Moody's said in 2015, inflation remained under control at 2.1 percent, despite price pressures from the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax and exchange rate depreciation.

Government commitment to fiscal consolidation also demonstrated high policy credibility and effectiveness with the fiscal deficit declining for the sixth consecutive year to 3.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2015, said Moody's.

"While reforms have not fully offset pressures from lower oil prices, the fiscal account are now in better shape to withstand oil price volatility," it said.

Malaysia's effective regulatory and markets governance, along with substantial long-term institutional savings, had also enabled the country to become Asia's third largest local currency bond market, after Japan and Korea.

"As the world’s largest sukuk market, we regard Malaysia as having the most advanced regulatory, accounting and market infrastructure for Islamic finance," it said.

The country's stable monetary environment and deep capital markets had enabled the authorities to loosen exchange rate controls and allow greater financial openness, which promoted outward foreign direct and portfolio investment by Malaysian firms and residents in recent years.

"Malaysia's greater financial openness has also led to increasingly large non-resident capital flows.

"As a result, Malaysia's overall international investment position which shifted to a deficit in 2012, has reverted to a surplus in mid-2015, driven in part by equity outflows and an increase in the value of Malaysia's direct investments abroad," it added.