Slashed Fitch Ratings Overshadowed by MITI

Fitch Solutions’ revision of Malaysia 2021 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth ratings have been overshadowed by Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) statements about Malaysia economic recovery.

Looking at the issues surrounding the topic, it is visible that the media have been focusing on MITI’s statement rather than the Fitch ratings.

MITI stated that Malaysia’s economic growth is in the right trajectory boosted by an external surge in electrical and electronics (E&E), petroleum, rubber products, palm oil and chemical products.

Alongside a report by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), it showed a growth in Malaysia’s GDP for the second quarter of 2021 (Q2 2021) which had an increase of 16.1% year-on-year.

On the other hand, looking at the trending keywords of the topic, the word ‘Fitch Solutions’ is present within the word cloud during 14th to 16th August.

The media share of Malaysia GDP topic also showed that four media that reported about the ratings are from English media and only one from Malay media, Berita Harian, that covered the about the revised ratings.

Fitch Ratings had revised their rating for Malaysia’s GDP for 2021 from their previous estimate of 4.9% to 0%.

It was noted that they had lowered their projections as they were not confident with Malaysia’s progress to achieve herd immunity by the end of 2021, despite the accelerating vaccination rate.