KUALA LUMPUR- Malaysia’s economic growth slowed in the third quarter – after reaching an 18-month high in the previous quarter – as a drop in oil and gas output offset a surge in investment activity and resilient household spending.
Gross domestic product grew 5.3 percent in the July-to-September period, slowing from 5.9 percent in the second quarter, in line with analysts’ and early government estimates.
On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, GDP rose 1.8 percent, compared with a 2.9 percent rise in the April-to-June period, data from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Statistics Department showed on Friday.
Third quarter growth was driven by strength in investments and exports, as well as household spending, Chief Statistician Mohd UzirMahidin said.
Malaysia recorded 14.5 billion ringgit ($3.24 billion) in foreign direct investments in the third quarter of this year, up from 9.1 billion ringgit in the previous quarter, the data showed.
The expansion was tempered by lower oil and gas output as a result of maintenance at production facilities, he added. The report showed the crude oil and condensate, and natural gas subsectors contracted 7.3 percent and 2.8 percent in the third quarter.
“Household spending will remain the anchor of growth, driven by expansion in employment and income, as well as continued policy support,” BNM Governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said, adding that investment activities and higher exports would lend further support. Headline and core inflation have averaged 1.8 percent year-to-date, and were expected to stay manageable going into 2025, BNM said, even as the government plans further subsidy cuts. It removed subsidies on diesel, electricity, and chicken this year, and a blanket subsidy for a widely used transport fuel is set to end in the middle of 2025.