Economic indicators show signs of recovery, growth projected to improve - Mustapa

He said even though analysts generally opined that the economic performance in the second quarter would experience a contraction due to the COVID-19 impact, however the economic indicators issued by the Statistics Department had shown signs of recovery in stages.

In fact, this was supported by a better labour market in June 2020 which registered an unemployment rate of 4.9 per cent, down 0.4 percentage points compared with 5.3 per cent in May 2020.

The number of unemployment had declined from 826,000 persons in May 2020 to 773,000 persons in June 2020, according to the Statistics Department.

"The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have forecast Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) to record a growth of 6.3 per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively for 2021.

"The expectation of a V-shaped recovery is following the moves by the government which has reopened all economic sectors and implement the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package (PRIHATIN) as well as the National Economic Recovery Plan (PENJANA)," he said.

Mustapa said this in his winding up speech on the debate on the motion of thanks for the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's royal address for his ministry in the Dewan Rakyat here, today.

Mustapa explained that taking into account the global economic environment which is very challenging, the country's economic growth would be more focused on the domestic economic activities.

The contribution of domestic consumption to the economy in the first quarter of 2020 was 74 per cent, he said

"The domestic consumption indicator shows that household consumption is improving in line with the better performance for retail trade volume and motor vehicles," he said.

To ensure that the economy returns to a sustainable growth path over the long term, Mustapa said the government through the Economic Action Council is formulating the medium-term and long-term economic recovery plan post-COVID-19.

He said the plan would focus on the aspects of transformation to adapt Malaysia to the new landscape locally and globally.