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“With a new government being formed under PH, we expect some level of foreign attrition in the short term. However, this could be mitigated by Tun Dr Mahathir’s assurance on the maintaining a great relationship with foreign trading partners and investors, along with his solid track record of being Malaysia’s Prime Minister for 22 years.” MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd “The surprise outcome of GE14 spooked investors and saw the one month offshore ringgit or nondeliverable forward traded at its lowest since last December at 4.0750 versus the US dollar. While we do expect the US dollar to ringgit to remain volatile with a downward bias, we still believe that the ringgit remains relatively undervalued.” Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd “With PH winning the GE14 election, from the market’s perspective on the future country’s economic growth and financial market performance, the immediate focus of investors will be on how the new government addresses policies and strategies to improve the business and consumer sentiment and private investment growth trends.” Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd

With Pakatan Harapan (PH) winning the 14th general elections (GE14), a wave of curiosity washed over the region as people started speculating how the market would react to the shock victory and how Malaysia’s economy would fare in the long-term. Many analysts were initially very skittish that the markets would be highly volatile with a PH win as a change in government for Malaysia would be uncharted territory and cause cautious investors to withdraw from the markets. Instead, what has happened so far is that the FBM KLCI has been steady with small climbs while the ringgit saw some pressure against the US dollar. With some mixed signals on the future of Malaysian markets and its economy, BizHive Weekly looks at economists’ predictions under the new government: