Malaysia increases 2015 fiscal deficit target to 3.2%

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia has increased its fiscal deficit target to 3.2 per cent of gross domestic for 2015 as the government needed to adjust its budget due to a sharp fall in earnings from oil and gas, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on Tuesday.

He said the revised budget would assume a global oil price of around US$55 a barrel. The original budget had targeted a reduction in the fiscal deficit to 3.0 per cent this year, from 3.5 per cent in 2014.

Najib said Malysia was not facing an economic crisis, but the government needed to adjust to the change in circumstances due to the fall in global oil prices.

REUTERS