GDP recorded strong growth of 4.2% in the first quarter
KUALA LUMPUR: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recorded strong growth of 4.2 percent in the first quarter of 2024, supported by stable domestic demand and better export performance despite a challenging external environment.
Berita Harian reports, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) in a written answer in Parliament said, the national GDP for the first quarter of 2024 also grew faster than developed and regional countries such as Singapore (2.7 percent), Thailand (1.5 percent), and the United Kingdom (0.2 percent ).
“This encouraging performance is also reflected in economic and financial indicators, among which the labor market shows positive growth momentum with the unemployment rate in the first quarter of 2024 remaining low at 3.3 percent compared to 3.5 percent for the same period last year.
“The Pelopor Index continued to record positive growth for four consecutive months with an increase of 2.3 percent, last March.
“Domestic tourism recorded a 19 percent increase to 58.6 million visitors in the first quarter of 2024 with total expenditure jumping 25.3 percent to RM24.1 billion,” he said in response to a question from Mohd Syahir Che Sulaiman (PN-Bachok).
It was to answer questions about the latest forecast of the GDP growth rate for this year and 2025 following the country’s GDP performance which recorded 4.2 percent for the first quarter of 2024.
The MoF said that the performance was also seen through the inflation rate in the first quarter of 2024 remaining low at 1.7 percent, compared to 3.6 percent in the same quarter last year.
“The stock market capitalization recorded a new level of over RM2 trillion for the first time last May 7, and until June 12, 2024 has reached RM2.059 trillion.
“The FBM KLCI index continued to surpass the resistance level of 1,600 points and was at a level of 1,608.95 points on June 12, with a growth record so far this year of 10.61 percent.
“It is one of the best in the Asian region and the second best among ASEAN countries,” he said.
Based on that indicator, the MoF said, the government is confident that the country’s GDP will achieve a growth of between four and five percent, this year.
In addition, the Global Economic Prospects report published by the World Bank on June 11, projected Malaysia’s economic growth to increase to 4.4 percent in 2025 compared to 4.3 percent this year.
The growth prospect is in line with the global economic growth forecast by the World Bank which is expected to increase to 2.7 percent in 2025 compared to 2.6 percent this year.