Malaysia Can Achieve More Than 5 Pct Growth This Year, Says MIER

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian economy can record a more than 5.0 per cent growth this year, based on the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) results for the first three quarters, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) executive director, Dr Zakariah Abdul Rashid said. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the National Economic Outlook Conference here, on Tuesday, he also said if the government can maintain a similar performance for the fourth quarter, Malaysia's economy will be able to achieve the earlier forecasted 5.0-5.5 per cent. "It is possible. The average for the first three quarters was 5.1 percent. Also, the government has yet to finish its plan to increase expenditure," he added. Last week, Bank Negara Malaysia announced that the Malaysian economy had expanded by 5.8 per cent in the third quarter of this year. The first and second quarter growth was revised to 5.2 percent and 4.3 per cent respectively. Zakariah said while it was acknowledged that the global economy is on a downtrend, some Eastern economies such as China and Indonesia, though affected, are still doing quite well. He said as external sectors would be a drag on the Malaysian economy, domestic demand through the government's policy initiatives, such as the 10th Malaysia Plan, the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) as well as the Agro-Food Policy, will help partially cushion its impact. "Private consumption will also remain healthy while private investment will be boosted by the implementation of projects under the ETP," he added. When asked if MIER would revise its earlier GDP projection which was calculated before the third quarter GDP announcement by the central bank, Zakariah said the new data would be considered and revised numbers announced early next year. MIER had earlier forecast the GDP growth for 2011 and 2012 to be at 4.6 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively. -- BERNAMA Malaysia