KUALA LUMPUR: The government will continue to prioritise economic growth, said Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng.
He said the government will even consider an expansionary budget to ensure the people’s economic well-being and achieve our economic goal of shared prosperity.
He said emphasising sustainable economic growth can ensure the success of shared prosperity.
This follows receding fears of deflation after Malaysia's inflation in June 2019 stood at 1.5 per cent year-on-year compared to 0.2 per cent in May 2019, he said in a statement, today.
Meanwhile, he said the government is optimistic about the prospects of a sustainable gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the second quarter of this year (Q2 2019).
He said Malaysia’s economy grew 4.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in Q1 2019, adding that low and stable inflation, industrial production growth, better exports in May, as well as the expansion in wholesale and retail sales in January-May were indicators for a healthy Q2 2019 results.
“The government will continue to prioritise economic growth and will even consider an expansionary budget to ensure the rakyat’s economic well-being and achieve our economic goal of shared prosperity,” he said.
Meanwhile, the World Bank is projecting the Malaysian GDP to grow by 4.6 per cent in 2019.
Lim said the Malaysian industrial production index (IPI) exceeded the market consensus for the third month in a row when it grew by 4.0 per cent y-o-y in May, beating the market projection of 3.5 per cent y-o-y.
In March 2019, the IPI grew by 3.1 per cent y-o-y and rose to 4.0 per cent y-o-y in April.