Malaysian economy: Key factors to keep an eye on

The domestic business environment is expected to remain challenging in the second half-year of this year, due to both external and domestic headwinds. — Bloomberg

WEIGHED down by a slowing global performance, the domestic economy is normalising to a gentle softening path in 2023.

The real gross domestic product (GDP) growth paced slower to increase by 5.6% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the first quarter of 2023 (1Q23) compared with 7.1% in 4Q22. On a seasonal quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) comparison, the economy grew marginally by 0.9% in 1Q23 after contracting by 1.7% in 4Q22.