THE STATE OF THE NATION: TOUGH IMES, BUT A TWIN DEFICIT IS UNLIKELY MALAYSIA is unlikely to experience a twin deficit even though oil prices have crashed and business activities have been paralyzed in the past six weeks by the Covid-19 Movement Control Order (MCO), which has cost the economy RM2.4 billion a day. Analysts say the chances of a twin deficit are “quite low”. Bank Islam chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid tells The Edge: “The prevailing economic conditions suggest that domestic demand may not be too strong (as before) and that’s the reason most economists, including us, are looking at Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) to contract this year. This, in essence, would reduce imports, and therefore the current account balance would remain in surplus.” A twin deficit occurs when a country experiences a deficit in both its