CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT The higher foreign labour costs, brought on by a freeze in intake due to pandemic containment measures, was still felt despite the lifting of restrictions in July 2022. In efforts to stem the depreciation of the ringgit and to curb inflation, Bank Negara Malaysia had revised the overnight policy rate (“OPR”) four times, each by 0.25 basis points within the Group’s financial year FY2023. As at 31 March 2023, the OPR stood at 2.75%, compared to 1.75% OPR within the Group’s financial year 2022. Consequently, banks and financial institutions revised their Base Lending Rate (“BLR”) upwards, leading to higher loan interest rates and borrowing costs. The property market is visibly recovering, given the implementation of various government stimulus such as the Malaysia Home Ownership Initiative (i-MILIKI) in providing stamp duty exemption for firsttime home-buyers as well as the 100% stamp duty exemption for the memorandum of transfer for houses priced at RM500,000 and below. The residential overhang situation showed significant improvement in 2022, registering a decrease in overhang value of 19.2% over 2021. This is reflective of Malaysia’s strengthening economy which recorded an encouraging performance with 8.7% gross domestic product (“GDP”) for 2022, far exceeding the 3.1% economic growth achieved in 2021. ACCELERATING OUR GROWTH Despite the challenges faced in FY2023, Matrix continued to harness its established and capable resources to navigate the Our positive performance in FY2023 speaks volumes of our resilience in managing the challenges faced in the property sector. Irama Biz - the lifestyle and retail hub of Irama Sendayan INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2023 MATRIX CONCEPTS HOLDINGS BERHAD 29
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