Malaysia’s GDP Growth Surprises as Recovery Accelerates
- Economy expanded 4.2% in first quarter, surpassing estimates
- Forward-looking indicators point to continued growth: BNM
The central bank anticipates that inflation, which had been below 2% since September, may average as much as 3.5% this year should subsidies be phased out.
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Malaysia’s economy grew faster than initially estimated in the first quarter, driven by private spending and a rebound in exports.
Gross domestic product expanded 4.2% in the January-March period, according to Malaysia’s central bank and statistics department in a joint briefing Friday. That’s higher than the 3.9% advance estimate as well as the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. On a sequential basis, the economy grew 1.4% from the previous three months.