KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 17 — The Malaysian economy, which expanded by 3.3 per cent in the third quarter of 2023 (3Q 2023) from 2.9 per cent in 2Q 2023, is a good sign, said Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli.
He is encouraged that 3Q 2023 is the third consecutive quarter of economic growth in 2023.
“I do not want to comment too much about what to expect in 4Q 2023 because I really have to see what is happening in October, and the most data we would have had by now is for October. So, it is quite premature for me to comment on 4Q.
“But we hope to keep up the momentum, and if the quarter-on-quarter growth continues, if we see better year-on-year growth, the focus is to be able to hit the target of 4.0 per cent, thereabout,” he said during a press conference at the Executive Digital Leadership Programme today.
Rafizi believes the most important for the government right now is to ensure the momentum continues as there are certain decisions or impetus within the government’s control, like project delivery, for instance.
“For example, what is within the ministry's purview is to ensure we improve project delivery because if you can see from 3Q (performance), despite the drop in export and weak external demand, we can keep (growth) at 3.3 per cent because of strong domestic demand.
“That strong domestic demand is from private spending and also from government spending,” he said.
Rafizi hopes to see further improvement in project delivery and allocations, which have been approved and are implemented quickly within the stipulated cost and time to maintain the public spending efficiency, which would translate into better growth in 4Q and next year.
The other perspective is the balance for inflation because private consumption will be a tricky bit if it has an impact on driving up inflation.
“We have not seen that so far in our economy. Private spending continues to grow and continues to drive demands, but we have been able to lower inflation and keep it at 1.9 per cent for September.
“So the laser focus on inflation is also important because the moment you start seeing an adverse impact on inflation, then the other considerations have to come in.
“As a country, we can keep the interest rate at three per cent, which is among the lowest in this region and debt, obviously, also helps private consumption as well,” he said.
— Bernama
