KUALA LUMPUR — Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who led the country’s recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, told Bloomberg TV that he expects the Covid-19 pandemic to hit the global economy harder than in 1997.

“This is worse than the financial crisis. This is really a terrible blow to the economies of the whole world.”

While the 1997 crisis affected millions of people as economies contracted and currencies plunged, Malaysia was better off, rebounding economically in just one year.

Much of it was credited to Dr Mahathir who was the architect of Malaysia’s capital controls in 1998.

“This time, pegging the exchange rate won’t help.

“Investor confidence is very low not only for Malaysia, it’s for the whole world,” he was quoted as saying.

“Because if you invest and you cannot sell, you don’t invest.”

After a recent political crisis, Mr Muhyiddin Yassin is now the prime minister.

However, Dr Mahathir said he has doubt over the new government’s ability to steer the country to recovery.

“This is the wrong time to take over the government.

“The country has never been in such a state before.”

Other world leaders have also issued similar warnings.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde had said the economic fallout could be as bad as the 2008 global financial crisis, while Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the pandemic economic fallout might be worse.

On Sunday (March 15), 190 new Covid-19 cases had been confirmed in Malaysia alone, the largest single-day increase in the number of confirmed cases.

Meanwhile, China has logged more than 80,800 cases, but most patients have recovered and there are now fewer than 10,000 infected people.

The country’s progress contrasts with the growing crisis abroad, with the worldwide death toll surpassing 6,000 as Italy recorded its biggest one-day rise in fatalities.

With 368 deaths, Italy’s grim figure was higher than any single-day toll reported in China. THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT