Household Debt in Malaysia – Is It Sustainable?
By Lim Mah Hui
August 2011 UTTER ECONOMICS
ONE IMPORTANT LESSON from the financial crisis of 2007–2009 is that economic stability and financial fragility are not only influenced by consumer prices and wage inflation. Equally if not more important are asset price inflation, financial/corporate leverage and household leverage. Central banks throughout the world have neglected the latter and focused on the former, contributing to the financial crisis.This is particularly true in the US, where 72% of its gross domestic product (GDP) is powered by private consumption, and household...
Lim Mah Hui
is an MPPP city councillor representing many of Penang’s NGOs. He was previously an international banker and academician, and the author of Nowhere to Hide: The Great Financial Crisis and Challenges for Asia.
