Malaysia Economic Outlook
October 18, 2016
While Q2’s GDP figure marked the worst economic performance since the height of the global financial crisis in 2009, recent high-frequency indicators paint a better picture for Q3. Going against market expectations, exports grew in August, after 22 consecutive months of contraction. The print was mainly driven by increases in exports of electronic products and of palm oil. Similarly, industrial production accelerated in August as a result of high growth in the manufacturing and electricity sectors. In other news, the 2017 budget is set to be submitted to Parliament on 21 October and is expected to be only marginally higher than that of 2016 due to tight government finances in a low commodity price environment.