Malaysia GDP Growth Eases To 5.6%

(RTTNews) - The Malaysian economy continued to expand at a slower pace in the first quarter amid easing private consumption, data from the Bank Negara Malaysia showed Friday.

Growth in gross domestic product, or GDP, advanced 5.6 percent yearly in the first quarter, slower than the 7.1 percent growth in the fourth quarter. In the third quarter of 2022, the rate of growth was 14.1 percent.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the economy posted an expansion of 0.9 percent, in contrast to the 1.7 percent expansion in the third quarter.

On the expenditure side, private final consumption expenditure grew 5.9 percent annually in the March quarter, though the pace of growth had eased from 7.3 percent in the previous quarter.

The overall growth in household consumption was attributed to the higher consumption of transport, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels ,and food and non-alcoholic beverages .

The growth in gross fixed capital formation moderated to 4.9 percent from 8.8 percent. Meanwhile, government final consumption expenditure contracted 2.2 percent.

Exports showed a sluggish performance in the first quarter, falling 3.3 percent from last year, and imports plummeted by 6.3 percent.