GDP growth 5%-6%, inflation 3% in 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara Malaysia has forecast the economy would grow between 5% and 6% this year, a slower pace than the 6.3% in 2007, dragged down by external factors including the US financial crisis. 

“In 2008, the external environment is expected to deteriorate with the continued unfolding of the financial crisis that has erupted in the United States,” said Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz said in her foreword to the central bank’s annual report released on Wednesday.