AFP, Kuala Lumpur :
Malaysia’s economy expanded in the first quarter at its slowest rate since the global financial crisis, data showed Friday, as the energy-exporting country grapples with falling oil prices and weak overseas demand.
Growth came in at 4.2 percent on-year in January-March, beating a 4.0 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.
But it was the fifth straight quarter in which the rate of expansion slowed, and the result could put pressure on policymakers to kickstart the struggling economy.
A central bank official said it was the slowest rate of growth since the economy contracted 1.1 percent in the third quarter of 2009.
Malaysian gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.5 percent in the final three months of 2015. With the recovery in overseas export markets uneven, domestic demand has been a key driver in recent years of an economy that typically relies on exports of oil and gas, electronics and agricultural commodities.
But the central Bank Negara Malaysia said private-sector consumption and investment slowed in the quarter, while public-sector investment was down 4.5 percent.
Net exports sank 0.6 percent over the year, it said.
Global uncertainty and the depressed oil prices have clouded Malaysia’s future, sending the ringgit plunging sharply last year, though it has clawed back some of those losses.
Malaysia’s economy expanded in the first quarter at its slowest rate since the global financial crisis, data showed Friday, as the energy-exporting country grapples with falling oil prices and weak overseas demand.
Growth came in at 4.2 percent on-year in January-March, beating a 4.0 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey.
But it was the fifth straight quarter in which the rate of expansion slowed, and the result could put pressure on policymakers to kickstart the struggling economy.
A central bank official said it was the slowest rate of growth since the economy contracted 1.1 percent in the third quarter of 2009.
Malaysian gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.5 percent in the final three months of 2015. With the recovery in overseas export markets uneven, domestic demand has been a key driver in recent years of an economy that typically relies on exports of oil and gas, electronics and agricultural commodities.
But the central Bank Negara Malaysia said private-sector consumption and investment slowed in the quarter, while public-sector investment was down 4.5 percent.
Net exports sank 0.6 percent over the year, it said.
Global uncertainty and the depressed oil prices have clouded Malaysia’s future, sending the ringgit plunging sharply last year, though it has clawed back some of those losses.
