Malaysia’s central bank, which has already downgraded its economic growth outlook for this year amid an escalating trade war, sees a partial offset as companies shift operations from China to sidestep higher US tariffs. In her first formal interview with the international media since she took office almost a year ago, Governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said the trade diversion could add about 10 basis points to this year’s growth rate. That would be on top of Bank Negara Malaysia’s current forecast of 4.3 percent to 4.8 percent for 2019. “There’s a lot of uncertainty as to when the increased investments, the higher productive capacity that the firms would be making in order to take full advantage of the trade diversion” will materialize, she said in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. That was why the central bank included in its growth forecast only the anticipated losses from the trade war, including from the latest round of retaliatory measures … [Read more...] about Malaysia sees trade diversion cushioning impact of tariff wars