Malaysia’s economy grew 4.7% in Q3 of 2015

Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s economy expanded 4.7% in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015, underpinned by the services and manufacturing sectors, which was in line with forecasts.

Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Dr  Zeti  Akhtar  Aziz  said on Friday that the private sector remained the anchor of growth.

Private consumption  grew 4.1% while private investments rose 5.5%.

Public sector  consumption,  on the other hand, expanded 3.5% and investments were up 1.8%.

Zeti again stuck to a cautious assessment of the economy and its outlook, saying that the current situation called for alertness but not alarm.

She said that economic  growth, current account surplus and the financial system have not been disrupted despite the external and domestic issues that the country has faced.

The quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted GDP increased 0.7% from 1.1% in Q2.

For the three quarters of 2015, GDP posted a growth of 5.1% with a value of RM853bil at current and RM784.9bil at constant prices.

In Q3,  the services sector grew 4.4% as compared with 5.0% in Q2. Manufacturing sector rose to 4.8% from 4.2% in Q2.

Mining and quarrying sector which accounted for 8.3% of Malaysia's economy, eased to 5.3% (Q2 2015: 6.0%). Agriculture grew 2.4% and construction 9.9%.

The inflation rate in Q3 was at 3%.

External reserves were at US$94b as at Oct 31.

BNM also said external debt increased in the Q3 due to weak ringgit to RM852.9bil, which was an increase of RM58.6bil from Q2.

However, household debt growth moderated to 7.6%.