Malaysia's state-owned Petronas may have to rethink its investment priorities after the government followed through on an election pledge to lean more heavily on the company to plug a budget deficit and fund tax cuts. Petronas will pay a special dividend of 30bn ringgit ($7.2bn) to the state next year, finance minister Lim Guan Eng said in Malaysia's 2019 budget on 2 November. That will come on top of the company's normal dividend, which is likely to be in line with the 24bn ringgit it has agreed to pay this year, up from 16bn ringgit in 2017. Petronas says it can meet the payout without affecting its capacity to service debt or invest for the future.
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