Malaysia GDP growth best in two years

kuala lumpur — Malaysia’s economy grew at its fastest pace in two years during the first quarter, the central bank said on Friday, boosted by stronger domestic demand and a pick-up in exports.

Southeast Asia’s third-biggest economy expanded 5.6 per cent on-year in January-March period, compared with 4.1 per cent in the same period last year and 4.5 per cent in October-December. The result — much better than the 4.8 per cent forecast in a survey by Bloomberg — marks the third consecutive quarter of improving growth and is the fastest since the start of 2015.

“It’s a lot stronger than expected and it was partly due to a rebound in exports and commodity prices,” said Song Seng Wun, an economist at CIMB Private Banking. —