{"id":1424,"date":"2008-02-27T21:44:05","date_gmt":"2008-02-27T13:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/borninmalaysia\/2008\/02\/27\/73-percent-gdp-growth-in-4th-quarter-2007\/"},"modified":"2008-02-28T18:44:36","modified_gmt":"2008-02-28T10:44:36","slug":"73-percent-gdp-growth-in-4th-quarter-2007","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/borninmalaysia\/2008\/02\/27\/73-percent-gdp-growth-in-4th-quarter-2007\/","title":{"rendered":"7.3 percent GDP growth in 4th quarter 2007"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being a layman, I wondered to my limited knowledge, what is this “domestic demand” that spurred at 7.3% growth. It think it has something to do with the string of festivals – Hari Raya, Deepavali, X’mas, plus the school holidays. This may also be due to contribution from tourist spending. <\/span><\/p>\n

UPDATED – it is also mentioned that the salary increment for government staff was one of the reason for increased spending and higher GDP growth in Q4.<\/p>\n

Economic growth beats forecasts, 6.3% in 2006<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n

http:\/\/malaysiakini.com\/news\/78786<\/p>\n

Malaysia’s economy beat expectations to grow by 6.3 percent in 2007, fueled by robust domestic demand<\/span> while the outlook for the current year remained favourable, Bank Negara said today. It said the 2008 outlook was despite a possible slowdown in global growth as “expanding domestic demand will continue to provide strong support for the economy.” It did not provide a growth forecast.<\/p>\n

“While global growth is expected to moderate (in 2008), the continued strength of domestic demand in the emerging economies, particularly in the Asian region, are expected to lend support to global growth,” it said.<\/p>\n

Malaysia recorded a gain in gross domestic product (GDP) of 5.9 percent in 2006; 5.0 percent in 2005 and a 6.8 percent in 2004. The 2007 figure was reached after GDP grew 7.3 percent in the fourth quarter<\/span>. The bank said high commodity prices<\/span> also contributed to strong growth. The rosy announcement comes as Malaysians heads to the March 8 polls.<\/p>\n

Economist: It’s a surprise<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wan Suhaimie Saidie, economist with Kenanga told AFP<\/em> that the sharp growth in the fourth quarter was above expectations. “It is a surprise. I was looking at 6.2 percent. It could be due to government spending<\/span> and rise in revenues from exports in oil and palmoil commodities<\/span>,” he said.<\/p>\n

Going forward, Wan Suhaimi said growth in the first quarter of 2008 would ease but would exceed six percent amid the expected global economic crunch while for the whole year it could be 6.1 percent. “I think the growth upside will be tempered by the slowdown in the US economy – a major Malaysian trade partner – hence I expect growth will be capped at 6.1 percent for 2008,” he said.<\/p>\n

But the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research said in January Malaysia’s economic growth was expected to slow to 5.4 percent this year and could drop as low as 4.0 percent if the US is hit with a recession. The sectors that contributed to the sharp growth in 2007 were services (9.7 percent) and followed by agriculture (2.2 percent), mining (3.2 percent), manufacturing (3.1 percent) and construction (4.6 percent).
\n
\nMalaysia records Q4 GDP of 7.3 per cent, 6.3 per cent for 2007<\/strong><\/u>
\nBERNAMA
\nsource<\/a>
\nKUALA LUMPUR, WED:<\/p>\n

Malaysia’s economy grew at a blistering pace of 7.3 per cent in the fourth quarter last year, leading the nation to chalk up a commendable 6.3 per cent gross domestic product for the whole of 2007.<\/p>\n

This was the fastest pace of growth since the second quarter of 2004 when the economy expanded by 7.9 per cent.<\/p>\n

Last year’s growth of 6.3 per cent versus 5.9 percent in 2006 was the best achievement for the full year compared with 6.8 per cent in 2004.<\/p>\n

Malaysia managed to surpass the targeted six per cent growth thanks to robust domestic demand, driven by strong private consumption spending and investment activities, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Statistics Department said in statements issued separately here today.<\/p>\n

Q4 gets boost from robust consumer spending and investment<\/strong><\/u>
\nsource<\/a><\/p>\n

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s economy grew strongly by 7.3% in the fourth quarter last year, beating an average forecast growth of 6.5% by most economists.<\/p>\n

The Q4 economic expansion was driven by robust consumer spending and investment activities, Bank Negara said yesterday.<\/p>\n

Consumer spending was expected to be resilient, the central bank added, in view of a firm job market and high commodity prices, together with implementation of projects under the Ninth Malaysia Plan.<\/p>\n

Highlights of the fourth quarter are:<\/p>\n

# PRIVATE consumption grew 11.1% due to high commodity prices, salary increment in the civil service and stable job market;<\/p>\n

# OUTPUT from domestic-oriented industries grew 11.1%;<\/p>\n

# EXPORTS from the manufacturing sector increased 2.9%;<\/p>\n

# SERVICES sector, which includes retail trade, hotels and finance, expanded 9.1%; and<\/p>\n

# AGRICULTURAL output increased 6.9%.<\/p>\n

Private consumption spending to stay resilient<\/strong><\/u>
\nsource<\/a><\/p>\n

PETALING JAYA: Private consumption spending<\/span>, which drove strong economic growth in the fourth quarter last year, “is expected to remain resilient in view of firm labour market conditions and high commodity prices,” Bank Negara said in a statement yesterday.<\/p>\n

Expanding domestic demand would continue to support the economy, the central bank said when announcing that the nation’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.3% in the fourth quarter (Q4) last year, and 6.3% for the whole year. Real GDP, which measures the volume of finished goods and services, is expressed at constant 2000 prices<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Economists were delighted with the Q4 GDP figures, which beat their expectations of 6.5%. They forecast that GDP growth would stay above 6% this year, concurring with Bank Negara’s view that “growth prospects for the Malaysian economy remain favourable.”<\/p>\n

Kenanga Investment Bank economist Wan Suhaimi Saidi said the Q4 growth was “far above expectations.”He forecast a marginally lower growth rate of 6.1% this year as the US economic slowdown would cap the country’s growth potential.<\/p>\n

OSK Investment Bank economist Sia Ket Ee said the expansion in Q4 was “definitely above expectation.” He expected GDP to expand about 6.2% this year.<\/p>\n

Aseambankers economist Saifuddin Morat expects Malaysia’s “growth story to continue in the first half of 2008.” His projections were for 6.7% in the first half this year and 6% in the second half.<\/p>\n

In the statement, Bank Negara said the services sector “continued to be the main impetus to GDP growth, expanding by 9.1% ” (in Q4). The sector grew 10.5% in the third quarter (Q3).<\/p>\n

Growth in the construction sector was sustained at 4.7% in Q4, comparable with the growth rate in Q3.<\/p>\n

Agricultural output recovered with an increase of 6.9% in Q4 compared with just 0.7% in Q3, following an increase in palm oil production due to recovery in yields.<\/p>\n

In the mining sector, the increase of 7.2% in crude oil output was mainly driven by higher production in the Kikeh deepwater oil fields.<\/p>\n

The manufacturing sector grew 5.6%, accelerating from 3.3% in Q3, reflecting expansion in domestic oriented industries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being a layman, I wondered to my limited knowledge, what is this “domestic demand” that spurred at 7.3% growth. It think it has something to do with the string of festivals – Hari Raya, Deepavali, X’mas, plus the school holidays. This may also be due to contribution from tourist spending.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[115,104],"class_list":["post-1424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-borninmalaysia","tag-economy","tag-statistics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}