KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian government should likely meet its deficit target of 4.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) this year and would be able to maintain this level for 2013 despite the challenges both externally and domestically.

The government would also likely introduce a series of reforms in 2013 after the 13th general elections, widely expected between November 2012 and February 2013, said Alliance Research in its comments about Standard & Poor's (S&P) warning of downgrade for Malaysia.

It said the reforms would include the subsidy rationalisation plan, which would streamline the prices of petroleum products in line with global crude oil prices, as suggested by Performance Management & Delivery Unit a couple of years ago.

Alliance Research also expected the goods and service tax (GST) may come in by end-2014, though the government has been stressing it would not be implemented for now.

It said though this had been a concern for quite some time, it did not think the ratio of external debt to GDP ratio would exceed the self-imposed limit of 55 per cent of GDP this year.

-- BERNAMA