KUALA LUMPUR: The country’s economy is expected to continue to strengthen in the second quarter of this year following the encouraging gross domestic product growth of 5% in the first quarter, including the continued improvement in wholesale and retail trade, said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
He noted that the economy is gradually improving and has expanded based on various indicators for May 2022.
To accelerate the recovery momentum, the Finance Ministry has kickstarted engagement sessions to establish measures that consider the needs of various stakeholders, he said in a Bernama report.
“Budget 2023 will emphasise structural reforms and boost economic resilience.
“With its theme ‘Strengthening Recovery, Facilitating Reforms Towards Sustainability of Economic Resilience and Well-Being of Keluarga Malaysia’, the government will continue to focus on the well-being of the people, businesses and economy,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Based on the latest developments, he said, the country is set to achieve the forecast growth of 5.3%-6.3% for 2022, in line with the projections made by the International Monetary Fund (5.75% growth) and World Bank (5.5%).
Among the May 2022 indicators that point to the improvement in the country’s economy is the drop in the number of unemployed people from 649,300 to 637,700 in the preceding month, with the national unemployment rate remaining at 3.9%.
He also noted that the recovery of the labour market continued to stabilise in May 2022 with the higher demand for goods and services.
“This has also given more opportunities for businesses to generate revenue once more, as reflected by the recent retail and wholesale trade figures,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul also said that the Industrial Production Index for May was up by 4.1% year-on-year (y-o-y), driven by electrical and electronic products, which have increased by 15.5%.
“This was in line with the manufacturing sales amounting to RM142bil (in May), a 15.7% y-o-y increase,” he said.
The country’s trade performance has also remained resilient and maintained its growth momentum.
He noted that trade increased 33.6% y-o-y to RM228.4bil in May, the 16th month of double-digit growth (since February 2021).
Moreover, he said, May 2022 data showed wholesale and retail trade recorded the highest sales since 2013, growing 19.9% y-o-y to RM129.8bil.
“This shows a recovery in domestic demand, which continues to strengthen,” he said.
