Malaysia's central bank reduced its key overnight policy rate by 0.25 percentage points to 2.5 percent today, citing worsening economic conditions from the virus outbreak in a growing number of countries. The Bank Negara Malaysia said it expects economic growth to be stunted in this quarter as tourism and consumer spending take a hit from weaker demand. The central bank's decision was widely expected. Malaysia's economy grew at a 4.3 percent rate in 2019 but has slowed in recent weeks and the central bank will likely need to take further action in coming months, said Alex Holmes of Capital Economics. "Given Malaysia's close economic links with China through trade and tourism, it is likely to be among the hardest hit by the economic fallout from the coronavirus there,'' Holmes said in a report.-AP

Source: The Standard March 03, 2020 08:37 UTC