The restructuring of the Malaysian economy and its banks since the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis has been a success, but the country now needs to focus on smaller companies for it to enjoy the next wave of growth, said Morgan Stanley Singapore managing director Michael Dee.
“Malaysia's greatest restructuring success has been of the financial sector,” he said. “It has been among the best managed in Asia.''
There have been a number of signs that the Malaysian economy has been restructured properly and the latest proof of that comes from the second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data – the economy grew by 4.4% at a time when businesses and sentiment had to deal with the aftermath of Iraq war and the SARS outbreak.
Banks during that tough quarter also posted much stronger profits from a year ago, even though business were much more competitive.
