Malaysia's Q1 GDP growth higher than most Asean, developed countries

Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) of 5.6 per cent recorded in the first quarter of 2015 was higher than most Asean and developed countries, Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said.

He said the GDP growth has enabled Malaysia to maintain the unemployment rate at three per cent, which embodies full employment by international standards.

"Despite uncertainties in the global economy, we manage to perform better than others in terms of economic growth, led by domestic demand and supported by strong private consumption and investments," he told a press conference here today.

Ahmad Husni said Malaysia's GDP was higher than most Asean countries, including Singapore (2.1 per cent) and Indonesia (4.7 per cent), and that of South Korea (2.4 per cent), the United States (3 per cent), the UK (2.4 per cent) and Germany (1.1 per cent).

He said Malaysia's unemployment rate was also lower than other countries such as the US and the UK (5.6 per cent), Germany (4.7 per cent), Greece (25.5 per cent), Spain (23.8 per cent), and Italy (12.8 per cent).

Ahmad Husni said the International Monetary Fund forecast that the world economy would expand slightly to 3.5 per cent this year from 3.4 per cent last year, while Asean would perform better in 2015 at 5.2 per cent of the GDP from 4.6 per cent last year.

He said the private sector continued to be the main driver of Malaysia's economic growth with investments picking up from the fourth quarter of last year, while total consumption also registered a strong growth.

On demand side growth, he said the total consumption in the first quarter of this year also recorded a 7.9 per cent growth due to higher supply and services expenditure that were largely contributed by food and non-alcoholic beverages (7.1 per cent), communications (10.1 per cent) and transport (8.8 per cent).

As for the supply side, he said only the agriculture sector recorded a negative growth of -4.7 per cent, while others had performed better, namely mining (9.6 per cent), manufacturing (5.6 per cent), construction (9.7 per cent), and services (6.4 per cent).

He said the agriculture sector was affected by the decline in oil palm prices, which contributed 41 per cent to the sector.

However, he said the mining sector was boosted by a double-digit growth in the production of crude oil, driven by oil production from the new Gumusut-Kakap field off Sabah.

Ahmad Husni said Prasarana Malaysia Berhad's success in winning a contract to operate and maintain the Arafah-Mina Metro system during haj pilgrimage beginning this year would help the company secure more jobs in Saudi Arabia.

He said Prasarana, among others, is eyeing the metro and monorail systems in Riyadh, Madinah and Jeddah, apart from providing consulting services on the operation and maintenance of school bus services in the kingdom.