Despite the recent re-imposition of nationwide pandemic containment measures by the federal government, the central bank of Malaysia (BNM) maintained its growth projection for the local economy at between 6 percent and 7.5 percent in 2021.

A bird's-eye view of Kuala Lumpur July 8, 2020. (Photo: malaymail.com)

In a briefing published on May 11, the BNM said Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recorded a smaller contraction at -0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the -3.4 percent posted in the fourth quarter of 2020, despite the imposition of the second nationwide movement control order (MCO).

Also in the first quarter, all economic sectors registered an improvement, particularly the manufacturing sector with a growth of 6.6 percent compared to 3 percent recorded in the last quarter of 2020.

The growth of sectors such as services, mining and construction, though still declined compared to the same period last year, but the degree of reduction improved compared to the fourth quarter of 2020. Specifically, the service and mining sectors narrowed their decreases from -4.8 and -10.4 percent in Q4 last year to -2.3 and -5 percent in Q1 of 2021, respectively.

Source: VNA