Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s central bank (BNM) has revised down the country’s 2021 GDP growth forecast to between 3 – 4 percent from the previous 6 – 7.5 percent as the prolonged COVID-19 nationwide lockdown continues to weigh heavily on the economy.
The lowered outlook was made despite the economy posted a year-on-year GDP growth of 16.1 percent in the second quarter of this year after nosediving 17.1 percent in the same period last year.
The Q2 figure was also higher than the initial 14.3 percent forecast.
Malaysia’s GDP growth reached 7.8 percent in the first half of the year.
Economic performance was adversely impacted following the implementation of the full movement control order (FMCO) in June, said BNM governor Nor Shamsiah Yunus, adding that the near-term outlook will be dependent on pandemic-related risk factors.
With a faster vaccination rate, Malaysia’s GDP growth could exceed 4 percent at the end of this year./.
Malaysia's economy sees many positive signals
Data released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on August 9 showed that Malaysia's manufacturing revenue in June increased by 6.5 percent year-on-year to 124.4 billion RM (29.6 billion USD) and up 1.3 percent from the previous month.
