In the second quarter of 2016, Malaysia’s economy registered a growth of 4.0 per cent. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted, the GDP for this quarter grew 0.7 per cent.

Resilient growth in Services and Manufacturing coupled with a bullish momentum in Construction have reaffirmed the performance of GDP on the production side. Nevertheless, the sluggish growth in Agriculture sector has influenced the overall economic performance of this quarter.

 

On the expenditure side, growth was primarily driven by Private Final Consumption Expenditure and Gross Fixed Capital Formation.

For the first half of 2016, GDP grew 4.1 per cent with a value of RM536.4 billion at constant and RM589.5 billion at current prices.

GDP by Production Approach

Services sector strengthened to 5.7 per cent from 5.1 per cent in the previous quarter. Wholesale & Retail Trade (6.6%) and Information & Communication (8.8%) remained as the key drivers of Services sector. This sector performance was further supported by Business Services which improved further to 7.9 per cent.

Manufacturing sector continued a positive momentum albeit at a moderate pace of 4.1 per cent (Q1 2016: 4.5%). The growth was supported by Electrical, Electronic & Optical products (8.8%) and Petroleum, Chemical, Rubber & Plastic products (5.5%). Moreover, Non-metallic Mineral products, Basic Metal & Fabricated Metal products increased 5.3 per cent (Q1 2016: 4.9%).

Construction sector augmented to 8.8 per cent (Q1 2016: 7.9%). Civil Engineering maintained its stronghold by registering a growth of 18.9 per cent and continued to support the Construction sector. Furthermore, Residential Buildings advanced to 9.2 per cent propelled by properties development.

GDP by Expenditure Approach

Private Final Consumption Expenditure rose at a faster pace of 6.3 per cent (Q1 2016: 5.3%) driven by higher consumption on food & beverages, communication and transportation.

Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) elevated to 6.1 per cent (Q1 2016: 0.1%) stimulated by the growth of Structure at 5.9 per cent and the sharp rebound in Machinery & Equipment to 8.1 per cent. Private Sector with a share of 73.1 per cent, posted a growth of 5.6 per cent and has led the momentum of GFCF in this quarter. Meanwhile, Public sector accelerated to 7.5 per cent (Q1 2016: -4.5%).

Exports rebounded to 1.0 per cent in this quarter which was driven by an improvement in exports of goods and services.  Imports also posted a positive growth of 2.0 per cent due to a recovery in imports of goods.