KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) in the third quarter (3Q) of 2023 grew by 3.3 per cent according to advanced projections by Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
This the first time Malaysia is announcing advance estimates of GDP as part of its efforts to meet the demand for timely macroeconomic statistics and are in line with best practices in developed countries.
An attempt to introduce advance GDP estimates last quarter had to be postponed due to insufficient data.
Bank Negara Malaysia is due to announced 3Q GDP on November 17, 2023.
Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the services sector is expected to continue to steer the overall performance in the quarter while, construction sector remained modest.
The agriculture sector is also expected to show a slight recovery after a decline in the previous quarter.
"Nevertheless, mining & quarrying and manufacturing sectors contracted in this quarter."Hence, the sum of three quarters of 2023 concludes that Malaysia's economy grew by 3.9 per cent, with moderate economic growth in the third quarter," he said in a statement.
In terms of sectoral performance, Mohd Uzir said the services sector increased by 5.1 per cent (Q2 2023: 4.7 per cent) in the third quarter of 2023. "The favourable performance was attributed to the wholesale & retail trade, transportation & storage and business services sub-sectors," he said.
Growth in the construction sector is expected to remain modest at 5.8 per cent in Q3 2023 (from 6.2 per cent in Q2 2023), while the agriculture sector is expected to see marginal growth of 0.8 per cent (from -1.1 per cent in Q2 2023), on the back of better production in the oil palm sub-sector.
The mining and quarrying sector, on the other hand, is expected to drop marginally, by - 0.1 per cent, against -2.3 per cent in Q2 2023, mainly due to lower production in the natural gas sub-sector.
The manufacturing sector also declined by -0.1 per cent (from 0.1 per cent in Q2 2023), dragged by weaker external demand for electrical, electronics and optical products, as well as petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products.
"Nevertheless, beverages and tobacco products and transport equipment, as well as other manufacturing and repair [products], increased in the quarter, driven by domestic demand, which led to a significant boost in production activities," he added.Ends