Malaysia to infuse USD 1.4 bn in stocks market

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia today announced it will infuse an additional USD 1.4 billion to a state agency to invest in undervalued stocks as several strong companies are now trading in low prices.

Finance Minister Najib Razak said "our stock market is affected by the sentiments in other markets, but I would like to stress that we are not in a financial crisis, and certainly we should not talk ourselves into one," Najib said.

Najib said the government could reduce its official economic growth forecast of 5.4 per cent for 2009, partly due to slum in demand for palm oil and crude oil.

The government would not cut back on development expenditure and projects to benefit the people, Najib added.