Lower consumer spending may affect earnings

Limiting impact: Containers are seen at North Port in Port Klang. The introduction of CMCO, instead of a more restrictive targeted enhanced movement control order, has limited the impact to Malaysia’s GDP overall.

PETALING JAYA: The growth forecast for the Malaysian economy has been downgraded by CGS-CIMB Research following the government’s decision to enforce conditional movement control order (CMCO) covering Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Sabah from Oct 14 to 27.

The research house now expects the gross domestic product (GDP) to contract by 4.4% this year compared to its earlier projection of a 4% contraction.