Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Malaysia’s economy contracted again in the third quarter, becoming the first Southeast Asian country to report a slump. Even so, the central bank expects growth to recover quickly in line with the gradual lifting of Covid restrictions.
Malaysia’s central bank data, Friday (11/12/2021), said the gross domestic product (GDP) ending in September shrank 4.5% from a year earlier. The decline was worse than the 2.6% predicted by analysts in the survey Bloomberg.
Compared to the previous three months, Malaysia’s GDP fell 3.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Despite recent quarterly declines, the central bank reaffirmed the government’s outlook for economic expansion this year at 3%-4%, with headline inflation at 2%-3%. It also reaffirms the official 2022 outlook for GDP growing 5.5%-6.5%.
“Monetary policy will remain accommodative to provide support and ensure price pressures are manageable,” said Nor Shamsiah Yunus, governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, in a virtual briefing Friday.
Shamsiah said the slowdown was seen in all economic segments. Even so, the gradual lifting of Covid-related measures and improvements in the labor market should help growth pick up in the fourth quarter.
Malaysia’s main equity index was up 0.5% at midday. The ringgit rose 0.1% to 4.1675 per dollar while the yield on the 10-year bond rose two basis points to 3.60%.
The prospect comes days after Malaysia and Singapore announced the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) scheme and agreed to start a travel corridor with Indonesia in early 2022.
Malaysia’s rapidly expanding vaccine coverage has also allowed the local economy to reopen in recent months. Malaysia previously also planned to reopen tourist sites on the island of Langkawi for international travelers.
(tfa/tfa)
– .
