Analyst: Malaysia's economy performing above expectations

He said optimism was continuously increasing that the gross domestic product (GDP) growth for second quarter would follow the same trend as the first quarter of this year, following a hat-trick of economic data announcements over the past week.

Malaysia's economy grew at a better-than-expected 5.6 percent the first quarter, beating expectations.

Jameel said it was not only retail sales that was performing above expectations, the industrial production data from a few days ago showed the same trend and the trade balance report late last week was even more impressive.

"If the Malaysian economy continues to pull out these numbers consistently above expectations, it will not be long until think tanks begin upgrading their overall forecasts for growth this year," he said in a statement.

The Department of Statistics announced that the sales value of wholesale and retail trade grew 10.7 per cent to RM96.9 billion in May against RM87.5 billion in the same month last year, supported by the increase in retail trade by 13.1 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM37.2 billion.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Industrial Production Index rose 4.6 per cent yoy in May, supported by strong growth in the manufacturing and electricity sectors.