BNM's Zeti, "Zeti: Economy strong enough to take downturn"

As reported in the Press:

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Bank Negara Malaysia yesterday acknowledged that the country would experience the full impact of the global downturn this year, but painted a picture of an economy sufficiently resilient to withstand the external shocks should conditions worsen. (snipped)

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Penumpang Halal's Counterpoint:

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Strength is Relative, Prophetess!
written by Penumpang Halal, March 26, 2009
The Prophetess may have just prophesied that, "The Malaysian Economy is Strong Enough to Take Downtown".

That statement begs for 2 more nervous questions:

1. How Strong (or Weak) is the Malaysian Economy
2. How Strong (or Weak) is the Anticipated Downturn and How Long Will the Downturn Be?

In 2007-2008, buoyant market priced Malaysian Oil financed more than 40% of the Malaysian Budgeted Expenditure.

With Oil having lost more than half of its market price vis-a-vis its peak, how much more oil must Malaysia sell to raise the same amount of revenue to finance the identical amount of budget expenditure?

But then again, Malaysia is no Switzerland whose currency is still backed by gold and like USA, Malaysia can gear up the printing press to print more money, because unbacked money is like what it says on the US Note: "In God We Trust".

Great, but other than "God", should we trust anyone else?

Well, unfortunately, it is dead silent on that!

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