(Bloomberg) -- Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng pared back expectations for economic growth for this year to about 5 percent as the export-reliant nation braces for knock-on effects of a brewing trade war.

“If the global economy slows, as a trading nation, definitely Malaysia will be impacted,” Lim said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin in Putrajaya on Thursday. His forecast is more bearish than most economists’ estimates and lower than the central bank’s 5.5 percent to 6 percent projection.

To contact the reporters on this story: Anisah Shukry in Kuala Lumpur at ashukry2@bloomberg.net;Chong Pooi Koon in Kuala Lumpur at pchong17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Yudith Ho at yho35@bloomberg.net;Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net

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