Latest news with #RM30.8bil
The Star
15-07-2025
- Business
- The Star
Trade performance on track to hit growth target
Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz. — Reuters KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's trade performance for this year remains within expectations and is on track to reach the target growth of 4% to 5%, says Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz. Nevertheless, Tengku Zafrul said the Investment, Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) expects global trade to moderate in the second half of 2025 (2H25) amid ongoing uncertainties. 'Yes, there is some front-loading, especially in the last five months, but at the same time, given the Aug 1 deadline (for US tariffs), we expect the (moderation) to continue. 'We are going to issue the latest trade numbers for June on Friday, and what is important is that Malaysia's trade performance is still within expectations,' he told a press conference on Miti's report card for the second quarter of this year. Tengku Zafrul noted that the projection by Bank Negara for trade growth is around 5% this year, while the Finance Ministry has projected about 3.9%. 'We will continue to focus on achieving (those) targets,' he said. Earlier during the report card presentation, Tengku Zafrul highlighted that the country has been gathering a total of RM25.6bil in potential investments and RM30.8bil in potential exports from the trade and investment missions held to date. Malaysia has also recently inked new free trade agreements with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in June, which is expected to reach a total of RM14.4bil in trade with the EFTA market. Meanwhile, on the tariff negotiation with the United States, Tengku Zafrul said his ministry is now looking at tariff and non-tariff related matters that can be agreed upon by both parties. 'I have set a deadline for the negotiation team, and there are issues that we still need time for because they involve many agencies and ministries. 'We are trying to conclude it before US President Donald Trump's tariff deadline on Aug 1. We are doing the calculations as well on what the impact is to our export and the impact to the government's revenue as well. 'We will continue to have another discussion this week and accelerate the discussion until the end of this month,' he added. Tengku Zafrul noted that some concerns on non-tariff issues have been addressed by Miti through the implementation of the Strategic Trade Act 2010, while 'red line' issues, such as those related to the equity interest in certain sectors, need to be studied carefully. 'As you know, Malaysia has equity restrictions for foreign shareholders for certain sectors, so there is a request for us to relook at or liberalise those sectors. Many countries have also been asked to do the same. 'For us, we need to consult the industries whether we are ready to liberalise those equity shareholding restrictions, especially when it comes to foreign equity restrictions that we have for many sectors. 'So we need to study carefully what the impact is,' he said. — Bernama
The Star
05-06-2025
- Business
- The Star
Local banks positioning for potential OPR cut
HLIB Research noted that fixed deposit competition appeared benign with no significant board rate hikes observed. PETALING JAYA: Local banks are positioning for a potential overnight policy rate (OPR) cut in the second half of the year by paring back deposit rates and recalibrating fixed deposit (FD) strategies. In April, total deposits grew 3.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) and 0.2% month-on-month (m-o-m), supported by current account savings account (CASA) growth of 4.5% and FD growth of 2.5%. The CASA ratio held relatively stable at 28.5%, slightly lower than 28.6% in March 2025 but up from 28.4% a year ago. Meanwhile, the industry's loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) eased to 87.4%, from 87.6% in the previous month and 86.3% in April 2024. Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research noted that fixed deposit competition appeared benign with no significant board rate hikes observed. However, it flagged some cuts of between five and 15 basis points (bps) in promotional and conventional deposit rates across May. 'This is seen as a proactive step taken by banks to manage net interest margin (NIM) in view of the potential OPR cut, and possibly as a sign of easing competition,' it noted in a report yesterday. Similarly, Kenanga Research highlighted that most banks anticipate one OPR cut in 2H25, prompting 'more concerted efforts to drive shorter-term fixed deposit products.' It pointed out that fixed deposits with a tenure of fewer than six months made up 52% of total deposits in April 2025, compared with 51% in March 2025, while deposits with tenures of more than one year declined from 3% to 2%. 'This may likely persist as banks seek to further rationalise their funding cost amid the decline in asset yields,' it said. 'However, as the recent reduction in statutory reserve requirement (SRR) looks to provide some relief to funding cost (up to two bps improvement to NIMs), we believe banks can afford to not overly raise deposit rates to accumulate capital in the near term.' Last month, Bank Negara kept the OPR at 3% but lowered the SRR ratio by 100 bps to 1%, effective May 16 – the first SRR reduction since March 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. CGS International (CGSI) Research pointed out that over the first four months of 2025, deposits increased by RM30.8bil, outpacing loan growth of RM23.2bil, 'reflecting improvements in the liquidity of the banking industry, in our view.' 'We believe the cut in the SRR by Bank Negara would release about RM19bil into the banking system, and would further enhance banks' liquidity,' the research house added. Meanwhile, in April 2025, total loans grew by 5.1% y-o-y and 1.0% year-to-date, a marginal slowdown from 5.2% y-o-y in March. The moderation was mainly attibuted to the slightly softer business loan growth, which eased to 4.6% y-o-y versus 4.8% in March. On the other hand, household loans held firm at 6% y-o-y for a second straight month. The industry's gross impaired loans ratio inched up to 1.43% in April from 1.42% in March, but improved from 1.63% a year ago, while loan loss coverage held relatively steady at 91%. CGSI Research viewed the slowdown in loan growth as 'not overly concerning,' noting that the expansion remains within its 2025 loan growth forecast of between 4.5% and 5.5%.
The Star
22-04-2025
- Business
- The Star
China set to import more Malaysian durians
Compiled by ZULKIFLI ABD RAHMAN, and R. ARAVINTHAN THE market for fresh Malaysian durians in China is expected to see a double-digit growth since local producers were allowed to export the fruit last year, reported China Press. According to fruit wholesalers at the China International Import Expo, they expect to import 30% more durians in 2025 from Malaysia to meet rising demand. According to one wholesaler, fresh durian from Malaysia is becoming a fad among consumers in China. 'They are different from durians from Thailand and Vietnam. Durians from Malaysia are harvested only when they drop to the ground,' he said. According to data from the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry, Malaysia shipped fresh durian worth RM24.8bil to China between August and December last year. Currently, Thailand remains the biggest durian exporter to China with an estimated market value of US$6.99bil (RM30.8bil), representing 57% of the market share. > A man in China who avoided drinking, smoking and social gatherings managed to save more than two million yuan (RM1.3mil) by carrying bricks for nearly a decade, reported Sin Chew Daily. He Jilin, 34, from Sichuan started working as a construction worker in Fujian in 2016 and was responsible for manually carrying bricks up construction sites without lifts. 'The pay depends on how many you carry. The more you work, the more you earn. 'In our line of work, you will make money even though the pay is not high as long as you are willing to put in the labour,' he said. In the beginning, He could only carry up to 600 bricks a day but today, he can carry more than 2,000. His day starts at 5am and ends only at 9pm to 10pm. He gets an hour's lunch break in between. 'It is exhausting. But as long as you are used to it, your body and spirit will get used to it,' he said. A divorcee with a son, He focused his entire life on work and had avoided drinking, smoking and social gatherings. With more than two million yuan saved over the last nine years, He used it to build a house in his home province in Sichuan and bought a car. (The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.)
