Battered 1Q quarter

Police and army personnel guarding a blocked-off part of Jalan Othman in Petaling Jaya Old Town after reports of new Covid-19 infections. — Photos: AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is expected to report its first quarterly economic contraction in 42 quarters or the first since the global financial crisis today.

Economists told StarBiz that the weak private consumption and trade activities, battered by the Covid-19 pandemic and the movement control order (MCO), may have likely pushed the domestic economy into the negative territory in the first quarter of 2020.