MALAYSIA'S ECONOMY EXPANDS 3.3% IN THIRD QUARTER BASED ON ADVANCE ESTIMATES-DOSM

Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter of 2023 grew by 3.3% against 2.9% in the second quarter led by the services sector, based on advance estimates.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM)  has introduced a new initiative by publishing quarterly advance GDP estimates. “Quarterly advance GDP estimates are developed to meet the demand for timely macroeconomic statistics and are in line with best practices in developed countries namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and Singapore,” it said.

DOSM said while the services sector continued to steer the overall performance in the third quarter, the construction sector's performance remained modest while the agriculture sector showed a slight recovery.

“The mining and quarrying and manufacturing sectors contracted in the (third) quarter.

“Hence, the sum of three quarters of 2023 concludes that Malaysia's economy grew by 3.9%, against 9.2% in the same period, with moderate economic growth in the third quarter,” chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement.

In terms of sectoral performance, the services sector increased by 5.1% (2Q 2023: 4.7%) in the third quarter of 2023, attributed to the wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage and business services sub-sectors.

In addition, the construction sector grew by 5.8% (Q2 2023: 6.2%) in the third quarter of 2023. The agriculture sector grew marginally by 0.8% (Q2 2023: -1.1%) in the third quarter, attributed to better production in the palm oil sub-sector.

However, the mining and quarrying sector decreased marginally by 0.1% (Q2 2023: -2.3%), contributed by the decrease in the production of the natural gas sub-sector.

The manufacturing sector also declined marginally by 0.1% (Q2 2023: 0.1%) in the third quarter due to weaker demand for electrical, electronic, optical, petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products.