Business community expresses confidence in Maylasia economy

According to the latest data from the Grant Thornton International Business Report, this was better than that recorded last year at minus 4 percent.

The report also revealed that 52 percent of Malaysian businesses were expecting higher revenue for the new year, with 42 percent of them looking to invest in plants and machinery.

Some 35 percent of business owners were also expecting to chart profitability for 2013, said the report, whose data was based on a survey involving 3,200 business leaders in 44 countries.

Malaysia received various international recognitions last year, including being ranked by the World Bank as the 12th most business-friendly country and evaluated by the United Nations Development Program as one with high human development index.

It was also the highest-placed developing Asian economy in a World Economic Forum survey.

Business owners in neighboring countries, said the report, were equally optimistic about the economy with the Philippines being the most confident in the region at 72 percent, followed by Singapore (26 percent) and Thailand (19 percent).

However, optimism in Vietnam dropped from 34 percent last year to 10 percent.

Although most countries in the survey recorded positive business optimism, those in the negative included Britain (minus 3 percent), the United States (minus 4 percent), Japan (minus 70 percent), Spain (minus 67 percent), Finland (minus 50 percent), France (minus 49 percent), the Netherlands (minus 42 percent) and Greece (minus 42 percent).

“Hopes for a strong start to economic recovery in 2013 look to be diminishing globally, especially in the United States and Europe. However, the forecast and scene is entirely different for Asia, particularly for ASEAN countries,” said the report.

The fall in global business optimism, it stated, had largely been driven by a huge drop in the world's largest economy, the United States.

“Economic uncertainty caused by concerns over the U.S. fiscal cliff and ongoing fears over the long-term viability of eurozone is dampening growth prospects,” suggested the report.

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