Rating agency RAM Rating Services Bhd is sticking to its economic growth forecast of 5-6 per cent for Malaysia this year despite recent developments in Japan- The earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan, the world's third largest economy, will likely result in only "short-term" disruption in trade between the two countries, its chief economist Dr Yeah Kim Leng said- Malaysia's exports to Japan last year accounted for about 10-4 per cent of total exports, while imports from Japan accounted for 12-6 per cent of total imports- "In the short term, we may see some rearrangement as well as disruption to our supplies- It may actually push up prices because of shortages - but nevertheless, given the efficiency of Japanese production, as well as their ability to ramp up production in other areas not affected, that will help to smooth out production," he said at a briefing in Kuala Lumpur yesterday- Meanwhile, RAM Rating reiterated that corporate bond issuances in Malaysia is likely to rise this year to reach as much as RM60 billion- At least half of these could comprise sukuks, or Islamic bonds, said Chong Kwee Siong, its deputy chief executive officer- New issuances are expected to be spurred by infrastructure projects under the government's Economic Transformation Programme- RAM Rating also expects the credit profile of the corporate sector to remain broadly stable across most industries this year- The outlook was based on the assumption that crude oil prices would average between US$100 and US$110 (between RM305 and RM335-50) a barrel this year- Of the 20 sectors that it covers, all had a "stable" outlook except for two that were "positive" (construction and oil and gas support services) and four that were "negative" (office, shipping, tolled road and water)- The latter were deemed negative because of oversupply or regulatory issues- RAM Rating had a "stable" outlook on the residential property sector, saying that while "bubbles" may exist in certain locations, on the whole, there is sufficient demand to keep the sector stable- "However, I think that if property developers were to indiscriminately continue launching projects that may not be in viable locations, then that would definitely exacerbate the situation," general manager Foo Su Yin remarked- RAM Rating was, however, confident that a full blown bubble, like that seen in the US and UK, would not develop in Malaysia- ...

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