Malaysia's second finance minister said the country's growth prospects will not be significantly affected by any downturn in the US economy.

Nor Mohamed Yakcop said the government is confident the country will be able to achieve the six percent economic growth forecast for the year.

"The Malaysian economy is on a very strong fundamental base, we have a very diversified economy," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

"While a possible slowdown or downturn elsewhere, possibly in the US, may cause some slowdown in Malaysia's exports, it will not be a major cause affecting our growth and our development," Nor Mohamed said.

He said the export sector is still a large proportion of Malaysia's gross domestic product but other sectors have also increased their contribution in the last few years.

Growth trajectory

Malaysia will continue on its growth trajectory in the coming years, at least during the Ninth Malaysia Plan period - a five-year RM200 billion (US$58 billion)development plan which runs through to 2010, he added.

"We don't see a major downside emanating from the external environment; we think that we have enough mechanisms and enough flexibility to offset whatever negative factors emanating from the external environment," he said.

US markets tumbled Thursday and sparked a global sell-off on concerns over the state of the world's largest economy.