Malaysian economy expands most since 2010
2013-02-20 14:17:46
The Malaysian economy expanded at the fastest pace in more than two years in the fourth quarter, underpinned by strong growth in manufacturing and construction, latest data showed Wednesday.
Gross domestic product increased 6.4 percent on an annual basis during the three months ended December, which was the steepest growth since the second quarter of 2010, the Department of Statistics said.
The rate of expansion was notably faster than the 5.3 percent increase recorded in the third quarter. Economists had forecast growth to accelerate to 5.5 percent from the originally reported 5.2 percent in the preceding quarter.
Driving the sharper improvement in economic activity, the construction sector expanded by 18.1 percent compared to last year. The service sector registered a 6.3 percent annual growth, while the manufacturing sector grew by 5.8 percent.
Exports fell by 1.5 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter, and imports decreased 0.9 percent.
Data for the month of December showed that shipments from the export-oriented economy decreased 5.8 percent annually, while imports fell by 6.5 percent. In the whole of 2012, meanwhile, exports and imports moved up 0.6 percent and 5.9 percent respectively from a year earlier.
Total final consumption expenditure eased to 4.8 percent in the fourth quarter from 7.3 percent in the third quarter, with private consumption and government consumption growing 6.1 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.
At the same time, gross fixed capital formation advanced 15 percent year-on-year during the three-month period, continuing its double-digit momentum.
In the whole of 2012, the Malaysian economy expanded at a faster rate of 5.6 percent than the 5.1 percent growth in the previous year.
In January, Malaysia's central bank kept its key interest rate unchanged to support economic growth as inflation remained subdued.
The central bank forecasts that domestic demand would support economic growth in the coming months, and private consumption will be underpinned by income growth and stable employment conditions. Investment is forecast to be lifted by capital spending in the domestic-oriented sectors.
The statistical office today said that Malaysia's consumer price inflation continued to be subdued in January, despite edging up to 1.3 percent from 1.2 percent in December.