The group of more than forty attendees were enlightened on the particulars given about the global and local economy situations. Tan Sri Dr. Sulaiman expounded on details as follows:

World Economy
•The IMF forecast (January) world economy to grow by 3.25%, lower by 0.75% from estimates in September 2011.
•The Eurozone continues to be uncertain, unemployment levels still high.
•The US economy is improving but not out of the woods yet.
•China and India are facing moderation in growth after impressive growth rates for many years.
•Others are experiencing modest growth in their economies.

Malaysian Economy
•Economy grew by 5.1% in 2011 and expected to expand by 4-5% this year.
•Recent growth is largely contributed by domestic demand-consumption and investment.
•February numbers, consumption, investments, and exports are strong.
•Consumption expanded by 6.9% in 2011 compared to 6.5% in 2010.
•Private investment increased by 14.4% in 2011 and 17.7% in 2010.
•Public investment declined by 2.4% in 2011.
•Exports growth decreased from 15.6% in 2010 to 8.7% in 2011 and imports growth from 21.7% to 8.6%.
•There is greater outflow of investments reflecting Malaysian companies investing abroad, but portfolio investments register net inflow reflecting interest in our debt securities.
•International reserves continued to sustain and capable of meeting 9.4 months of retained imports or 4 times of short term debt.
•Inflation as measured by CPI is 2.2% in February.

MGA members and invited guests have had a beneficial sharing session and gained valuable insights on the sight of local and global economy.

Members expressed their gratitude to the MGA for giving them the opportunity to learn about the economy from the expert’s himself.