KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's economy is no longer in a crisis and its economic recovery is well underway, showing positive growth momentum, Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said.
During her feature address at Khazanah Megatrends Forum 2022 here today, Nor Shamsiah said the reopening of international borders had and continued to lift tourism-related sectors.
"This will have significant spillovers to the rest of the economy given the importance of the services subsectors.
"Also, investment activity and prospects continue to be supported by the realisation of multi-year projects. Similarly, Malaysia's exports have been recording double-digit growth since the start of 2021 and the order books of our exporters remain healthy.
"These positive developments will continue to provide support for growth in 2023," she said.
Evidently, Nor Shamsiah said Malaysia's labour market had also shown strength.
She said wages in both the manufacturing and services sectors had been increasing since the start of the year, at around five and seven per cent respectively.
Unemployment is now less than four per cent and income prospects remain positive.
"Third, in spite of global inflationary pressures, inflation remains well anchored.
"Headline inflation has averaged 3.1 per cent year-to-date. It is largely supply-driven, but we have also seen stronger demand with the reopening of the economy.
"That said, we project that inflation will peak in the third quarter this year.
"In addition, the extent of upward pressures to inflation will remain partly contained by existing price controls and the prevailing spare capacity in the economy," she said.
For 2022, the central bank is keeping its gross domestic product (GDP) growth projection at 5.3-6.3 per cent.
Nor Shamsiah said the future ahead would be challenging, highly uncertain and unpredictable.
However, she reiterated that Malaysia was not in a crisis and its growth trajectory remainef positive.
"We should remain confident about the future. The next one to two years will present a crucial window for Malaysia to be taking bold steps forward.
"As a country, we must now focus on strengthening our economic fundamentals, resilience and flexibility.
"Our neighbours within the region are actively pressing on with reform measures. We run the risk of being left behind if we do not act now.
"History is instructive. We have time and time again, done what is necessary to transform ourselves to reach greater heights. I am certain that this time is no different," she added.