Malaysia announces $4.9 bln in fresh stimulus to aid coronavirus recovery

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin unveiled a fresh round of stimulus on Wednesday, in the hope of breathing life into a pandemic-hit economy that last year saw its worst contraction since the Asian Financial Crisis.

Malaysia's economy declined 5.6% in 2020, its worst performance since a 7.4% fall in 1998, as the government imposed strict movement curbs for most of the year to rein in the spread of COVID-19. Muhyiddin said the government would roll out 20 billion ringgit ($4.86 billion) worth of stimulus packages, including a 11 billion ringgit fiscal injection.