Malaysia’s yen credit request viewed favourably

The move resembles the scenario during the 1997 Asian financial crisis when the country sought the assistance from the Japanese to help resolve its financial difficulties while going on an austerity drive.
With the cost likely to be lower and the tenure longer, a yen loan was a feasible and an attractive proposition to pare down the more expensive dollar borrowings, especially the ones incurred by 1Malaysia Development Bhd, said Sunway University Business School professor of economics Yeah Kim Leng
“It also signals that the government’s fund-raising capacity in international financial markets was not impaired by the high debt level, as well as affirming the continuing foreign investor confidence in the country under the new government,” Yeah said.
“The yuan in the long term, therefore, has a strong likelihood of appreciating against the ringgit, thereby rendering loans from China more expensive to service in the future,” he noted.
This week Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who was on a working visit to Japan, said he asked Japan to extend a yen credit to Malaysia, adding that his counterpart Shinzo Abe had agreed to consider the request.
The Prime Minister also plans to reduce Malaysia’s debt to China.
With Mahathir’s good relationship with Japan, a line of credit in yen is seen as a positive given that the country is facing with a high public debt of 1.09 trillion ringgit, said economists.
Following the Asian financial crisis in 1998, Malaysia sought aid from the Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) when the country ran into financial difficulties, according to AmBank Group chief economist Anthony Dass.
 Mahathir was then the prime minister .
“Aid was given in the form of ODA. We have been seeking financial aid from the Japanese government since the First Malaysia Plan and would have been exposed to a total of more than US$2.8 billion to help the process of modernising Malaysia,” he noted.
According to him, the latest move by the Prime Minister indicates the country could potentially run into difficulties due to the huge public debt and the need to reduce fiscal deficit to gross domestic product which stands at 2.8 per cent.
Seeking credit assistance from Japan would likely continue though the Japanese ODA, he said.
The loans could come at a special rate of around 1 per cent or even lower, depending on the type of projects. Those loans would be over a long period of 30 to 40 years.
“It could be used for economic development and to support small and medium-scale industries with the aim of ensuring the economy continues to grow at a sustainable pace, while not straining liquidity at the same time,” said Dass.