Malaysian PM: economic expansion encouraging

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Photo: VNA)

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) - The encouraging economic expansion seen at present is due to the expansionary fiscal policy via the 2022 Budget, a monetary policy that has remained accommodative, as well as the full reopening of the economy and national borders, said Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob on August 30.

Malaysia's 8.9% GDP growth is the best in Southeast Asia, he said in the televised National Day message.

The momentum of economic recovery is not just about GDP growth but also the recovery of the job market as well, where the unemployment rate has gone down from 5.3 % in May 2020 to 3.8% in June 2022.

The same day, Malaysian Finance Minister Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the country will spend about 17.88 billion USD on subsidies in 2022 to maintain inflation goal.

In seven months of this year, Malaysia’s inflation stood at 2.8%, within the central bank’s targeted range of 2.2-3.2% this year. He added that Malaysia’s inflation will be one of the world’s lowest thanks to subsidies./.