IMF revises up Malaysia’s economic growth forecast this year

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has raised Malaysia’s economic growth forecast for the year from 5.1% to 5.4% in its latest World Economic Outlook report.
Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The International MonetaryFund (IMF) has raised Malaysia’s economic growth forecast for the year from 5.1%to 5.4% in its latest World Economic Outlook report.

The IMF also said that global growth is forecast to slowdown from 6.0 % in 2021 to 3.2% in 2022 and 2.7% in 2023. This is the weakestgrowth profile since 2001, except for the global financial crisis and the acutephase of the COVID-19 pandemic, it said.

It further noted that global economic activity isexperiencing a “broad-based and sharper than expected slowdown”, with inflationhigher than seen in several decades.

The cost of living crisis, tightening financial conditionsin most regions, Russia-Ukraine crisis, and the lingering pandemic all weighheavily on the outlook, it explained.

The report also said that projected growth in the ASEAN-5countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) nextyear has been revised downwards to reflect mainly less favourable externalconditions such as slower growth in major trading partners such as China, theEuro zone and the US.

Among the other reasons for its revision are the decline inhousehold purchasing power from higher food and energy prices and, in mostcases, more rapid monetary policy tightening to bring inflation back to target.

The IMF’s latest forecast for Malaysia is in the lower-endof Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) projected GDP growth range of 5.3% to 6.3% for2022, which it issued in August./.
VNA

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