MADRID, April 21 (Reuters) - Real Madrid secured a 2-1 home victory over struggling Alaves in LaLiga on Tuesday with goals from Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr to end a four-match winless run in all competitions.
KUALA LUMPUR: Domestic companies need to look beyond investing solely in one another and take a more deliberate, strategic approach to investing across the region. Asean +3 Macroeconomic Research Office’s group head for regional surveillance and lead economist, Allen Ng, said should a local company invest into a Thailand-owned group, this will create a flow of foreign direct investment . “This is beneficial for both countries because this will only strengthen trade linkages between two countries. This, in return, will improve integration, which is one of the more important things we are talking about today,” he told StarBiz on the sidelines of the “SC-AMRO Regional Economic Outlook Seminar: Asean at a Crossroads” here yesterday.
According to Ng, this is why the region needs a capital market that will allow for trade and FDI to work more seamlessly in this manner. “Malaysia is already looking at different policies and various areas so that a more integrated market can be formed. It is important to realise that the region has become even stronger in this current geopolitical climate,” he said. Acknowledging that downside risks are very high particularly due to what’s happening in the Middle East, Ng, however, pointed out that the region had entered the crisis from a point of strength. The Asean+3 region expanded by 4.3% in 2025, outperforming expectations despite the most significant shift in global trade policy in decades.
He said despite experiencing two major shocks in less than 12 months, namely, US President Donald Trump’s trade war last year and the war in Iran this year, he still forecast economic growth to be at 4% for both 2026 and 2027. “The most important thing, of course, is mitigating near-term challenges which involves fiscal and monetary policies that need to be targeted. After looking at the first round of shocks, we saw it translate into something deeper, which was the supply and demand shock. “This is where the central bank can play a role. But here’s the challenge for policymakers – it’s the task of managing all this,” he noted.
Speaking on the report which he presented – “Asean+3 Regional Economic Outlook 2026” – Ng said this year the highlights included important shifts that took place within the region. “Among them are supply linkages that are now very well developed. Whereas initially, highly developed supply chains were centred on China, now with the Asean+3 – which is China, Japan and South Korea – it all works together,” he said. He added the second shift he noticed was the Asean region was now the final market for the world, which means services start in the region and are consumed by those in the region. “Consumers and investments are centred here and Asean+3 has emerged as the world’s largest market, accounting for 28% of global final demand which is higher than the United States.
On a separate note, Deputy Finance Minister Liew Chin Tong said Malaysia was in a comfortable position compared to its peers right now. He, however, said that it was important to remember that the Middle East crisis is likely to go on longer than expected. He said the fuel usage in the country needs to be monitored so that reserves would last longer than August this year. “In this current geopolitical situation, we’ve seen that the United States is losing its standing as the world’s unipolar power. During the trade war last year, the United States saw constraints from China in terms of rare minerals. “This year, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz was a contentious issue. It is clear we are entering an era of multipolar powers,” he said.
“We know Malaysia isn’t big, so this is why it’s critical to join forces and operate within the Asean context. No doubt, we are facing challenges but looking at it historically, Asean was formed in the midst of a crisis – which was in 1967,” he said. To this end, Liew said the country now must collectively think about how to innovatively fill the gaps within the supply chain, as well as look at energy shifts. He also pointed out that Dubai has been a central hub for many industries, adding, however, that Kuala Lumpur could now take that position. “A clear example of how we can build back better is the formation of Petroliam Nasional Bhd – the entity came about as a response to the oil crisis of 1974. We sometimes take them for granted, but we are very lucky to have them.”
Meanwhile, Securities Commission chairman Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi said capital markets must reflect the opportunity for regional synergy. “They must be deep enough to absorb global shocks, yet agile enough to fund the ‘deep tech’ and ‘green tech’ innovations that will define the next decade,” he said in his speech. He noted that by aligning standards across the region, whether in sustainability reporting or cross-border offering of funds, the goal is to create a common-market for capital that is larger and more attractive than the sum of its parts.
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