He said there were various reasons for this, including the trade war between the US and China, and diplomatic tensions between the Middle East and US after the disappearance of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
He also cited the weak market sentiment, unpredictable European market, and Brexit.
Ahmad Maslan (BN-Pontian) however asked Lim to state the internal factors that had caused the market to drop.
He said according to research by Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd, the outflow was due to the cancellation of the MMC-Gamuda contract to build the underground portion of the MRT Line 2 (MRT 2) project, as well as the possibility of the introduction of new taxes.
Lim said the outflow was not because of “one or two companies or one or two projects”.
“It does not cause any impact,” he added. “(The situation in) the global share market is mainly due to the trade war.”
He added that any decision on new taxes would be made known on Nov 2 when the 2019 budget is announced.
“We will only know on Nov 2. I am sure all YBs want to know, but we hope you can wait. Whether it will happen or not is not certain yet,” he added.
He said the government would continue to address the fiscal problems inherited from the previous Barisan Nasional government by introducing new policies to drive competitiveness, productivity and profit for companies.
He added that he would meet with rating agencies to provide a clearer picture of the country’s equity market after the tabling of the federal budget.
This was to attract more investors to the country, he said in reply to Mustapa Mohamed (Independent-Jeli).
Mustapa had asked the finance ministry on the steps taken to promote the country’s equity market among foreign investors and boost its profile at the international level.