International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde says Malaysia and some Asian countries continue to enjoy reasonable economic growth and vibrancy, despite global economic risks.

Lagarde said the slowdown in China and its multiple transitions, lower commodity prices and anaemic demand globally as well as transition of monetary policy by the biggest central banks were some of the risks. But she said the situation also presented some opportunities. “Asia in general and certainly Malaysia are countries where there are reasonable growth and vibrancy, yield, and, if there is political stability and a business-friendly environment, economic activities, capital and investments will continue to move, too.”

“In Malaysia’s case, Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz has been a strong pillar and anchor of solidity, wisdom and training in Islamic finance and we owe it to her, if nobody else.” Lagarde, a former finance minister of France, has headed the fund since July 2011. Under her watch, the Washington-based IMF had shifted its policy on capital controls. Malaysia was criticised for implementing capital controls at the height of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s. “For many instances, once capital controls are in place, it is difficult and slow to remove them without creating significant disruption. “There are, and have been, situations like Iceland and Cyprus where we have recommended capital controls, or Greece, where the authorities decided capital controls as the ultimate response as everything had been tried without success.”