Malaysia keeps 5-6% GDP forecast

Malaysia keeps 5-6% GDP forecast

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's central bank will not revise its 2005
GDP growth forecast of between 5 percent and 6 percent, despite
surging oil prices in the global market, its governor said on
Sunday.

"We will wait for three or four months before making any
fundamental change in view of the current high price of oil (in
the international market)," Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz
was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.

Malaysia, a net oil producer, has forecast a gross domestic
product of 5 percent to 6 percent for this year, down from 7.1
percent last year.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said last month that the
government might review the economic growth forecast in view of
skyrocketing oil prices.

U.S. banking giant JP Morgan said earlier this month that
Malaysia's growth rate in 2005 would hit just 4.7 percent, well
below the government's target. -- AFP