Malaysia’s economy grew at a faster pace of 5.8% in the second quarter ended June 2017 – the quickest since the first quarter of 2015 – exceeding economists’ forecast of a 5.4% expansion.
The services and manufacturing sectors were the main reasons for growth with Bank Negara Malaysia predicting that the economy would expand by more than 4.8% this year.
“Domestic demand is projected to underpin the expansion. On the external front, exports are expected to benefit from the stronger-than-expected improvement in global growth,” it said.
Earlier, the Statistics Department said the Q2 growth at 5.8% was at a faster pace than the 5.6% in the previous quarter.
Separately, the central bank said headline inflation was expected to moderate further in the second half of 2017, reflecting the waning effect of global cost factors.
For 2017 as a whole, it is expected to average within the forecast range of 3% to 4%.
