Kuala Lumpur: The Malaysian economy is anticipated to start moderating due to the effects of global economic instability in the months ahead in 2023, said the Department of Statistics (DOSM) Thursday.Citing the Economic Outlook 2023 by the Finance Ministry, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the Malaysian economy is forecast to moderate between 4.0 per cent and 5.0 per cent in 2023, in line with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) global forecast.
In its World Economic Outlook report for October 2022, the IMF projected the global economy to expand albeit at a more moderate rate of 2.7 per cent in 2023.
Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said the growth forecast for the Asian region was revised to 4.2 per cent in 2022 from 4.3 per cent, and to 4.6 per cent from 4.9 per cent in 2023, based on the recent Asian Development Outlook Supplement for December 2022.
“This was due to the recurrent lockdowns in China, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and slowing global growth,” he said in a statement Thursday.
On the domestic front, Malaysia’s Leading Index (LI) increased 0.4 per cent to 109.6 points in October 2022 compared to 109.2 points in October last year, however, looking at the smoothed long-term trend in October 2022, the LI started trending below the 100-point trend.
On the latest macroeconomic performance, Mohd Uzir said several key indicators continued to register upward trends as compared to October last year such as Malaysia’s total trade performance which recorded double-digit growth of 21.1 per cent to RM245.2 billion from RM202.4 billion in October 2021.
As for inflation, he said from the prices standpoint, Malaysia’s inflation in October 2022 increased 4.0 per cent year-on-year, lower than the rate recorded in September 2022 at 4.5 per cent, with the food group remaining as the main contributor by registering an increase of 7.1 per cent.
