SMBA Economic Outlook 2019
10am-1pm @InvestKL, Feb 27, 2019
The annual Economic Outlook session is one of our most popular events and this year’s was no exception in a session which was jointly organised by SMBA together with Chamber of Commerce and Industry, France Malaysia (CCIFM) and the Malaysian Spanish Chamber of Commerce & Industry, LA CAMARA. Joining us that morning were our honourable guests – Embassy of Switzerland KL Ambassador Mr. Michael Winzap and Deputy Ambassador Mr. Werner Bardill, Embassy of Spain KL Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Luis Cacho and its Economic & Commercial Commissioner Mr. Rafael Matos. InvestKL was our host with its chief executive officer Datuk Zainal Aman Shah present as well.
Vice chairman of SMBA Mr. Andre Keller who chaired the session then welcomed for the fourth year our highly anticipated speaker, Ambank Group Chief Economist Dr. Anthony Dass. His sharing, which focused on both the global economic scenario and the situation for Malaysia, has been heavier this time around with an outlook that sees an overall global risk of deflation.
Nevertheless, the strong attendance with many of the members of the three associations turning up added to the anticipation and engagement of the event.
The audience listened with rapt attention and deep interest as Dr. Dass unpacked the various segments of his presentation and projections with some light-hearted quips in between.
One of the highlights was his advice that SMEs here must focus on technology as ASEAN countries are seeing increasing investments in this area in tandem with the current growth of e-commerce. It was also noteworthy to hear his forecast of this year’s prospects for different industries and business sectors.
The Q&A session was, of course, further injected with rich insights. With that, the highly engaging and educational session wrapped up with group photos and continued networking over light refreshments with anticipation of the next event.
