Feb. 22 – Malaysia recorded better than expected GDP growth figures in the fourth quarter of 2012, with its economy growing by 6.4 percent. The total annual growth for last year hit 5.6 percent, higher than the expectations of most analysts. Both government spending on infrastructure projects and a solid consumer base contributed to Malaysia’s strong performance.
Private sector investment surged 20.2 percent in the same quarter, while public investment rose 11.1 percent. Manufacturing output was up by 5.8 percent year-on- year in 2011, signifying a return of export trade.
The Government has been investing in numerous infrastructure development projects as part of its Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) – a US$444 billion plan to boost infrastructure and set the country on the road ahead for increased manufacturing, exports and consumer driven growth for the next decade.
“It is remarkable to see overall investment growth at 19.9 percent year-on-year in 2012 – twice as fast as the pace of expansion seen in the likes of Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand,” said Gundy Cahyadi, an economist with OCBC Bank in Singapore. “Clearly this reflected the strong initiatives under the ETP programme.”
Many analysts and economists have now started to revise upwards their growth expectations for Malaysia in 2013. UOB Bank economist Ho Woei Chen said that growth forecasts have been revised to 5.5 percent, up from the previous projection of 5.0 percent.
“We believe firm labour market conditions, domestic income growth and investments generated through the Economic Transformation Programme will remain the key growth drivers,” she said.
Amongst Southeast Asia naitons, Malaysia, along with Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, have all posted strong economic data the past few weeks concerning their overall performance last year.
