The Statistics Department said on the expenditure side, the economy was spearheaded by private final consumption expenditure and government final consumption expenditure.
“The expansion in both consumptions has offset the sluggish performance in external demand,” the department said.
Malaysia's value of GDP in current terms for Q1, 2016 amounted to RM291bil.
Q1 2016 GDP versus Q4 2015
The services sector expanded at 5.1% (Q4, 2015: 5.0%) supported by the wholesale & retail trade (5.2%) and information & communication (8.5%).
The manufacturing sector grew 4.5% (Q4, 2015: 5.0%) supported by the electrical, electronic & optical products
(5.7%), mainly in semiconductors, computers and peripheral equipments.
The department said this sector performance's was further supported by petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastic products that grew 2.7% (Q4, 2015: 1.4%) following a turnaround in refined petroleum products and expansion in chemical and plastic products.
Construction sector rose at a faster rate of 7.9% (Q4, 2015: 7.4%). Civil Engineering sustained its double-digit momentum bgrowth of 17.5% though slower from the preceeding quarter (Q4 2015: 20.4%) and continued to support the construction sector.
In terms of expenditure, the department said private final consumption expenditure rose to 5.3% (Q4, 2015: 4.9%) underpinned by consumption of food & beverages, housing & utilities, communication and transportation.
But gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) eased to 0.1% (Q4 2015: 2.7%) due to the deceleration in machinery &
equipment (-7.1%) as well as other asset (-3.3%).
While the public sector (share: 30.1%) contracted 4.5% which has influenced towards the moderation of GFCF in this quarter, the private sector posted a growth of 2.2% (Q4 2015: 4.9%).
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