Malaysia GDP Growth Misses Estimate

(RTTNews) - Malaysia's economy posted a slower than estimated growth in 2023 on weak global demand, official data showed on Friday.

In the whole year of 2023, economic growth drastically softened to 3.8 percent from 8.7 percent in 2022.

The slowdown came as exports declined 8.0 percent due to weak global demand and low commodity prices, the advance estimates from the Department of Statistics revealed.

The pace of expansion was weaker than the central bank's full year estimate of about 4 percent.

The statistical office releases the preliminary GDP figures for the fourth quarter and 2023, on February 16.

GDP grew 3.4 percent in the fourth quarter from a year ago, which was slightly faster than the 3.3 percent rise in the preceding quarter.

On a quarterly basis, economic growth moderated to 3.5 percent from 5.2 percent in the third quarter.

The annual growth in the fourth quarter was underpinned by the 4.7 percent growth in services output. At the same time, manufacturing grew only 0.1 percent.

Mining and quarrying output rebounded 3.7 percent and the farm sector advanced 1.2 percent. Construction posted an increase of 2.5 percent. Separately, the statistical office said the trade surplus declined to MYR 11.8 billion in December from MYR 12.2 billion in the previous month. In the same period last year, the surplus was MYR 27.98 billion.

Exports registered a decline of 10.0 percent annually, bigger than November's 6.1 percent drop. Meanwhile, growth in imports improved to 2.9 percent from 1.5 percent.

In the fourth quarter, exports decreased 6.9 percent, while imports expanded 1.3 percent. Consequently, the trade surplus decreased to MYR 36.9 billion from MYR 68.2 billion.