Quarterly advance GDP estimates are developed to meet the demand for timely macroeconomic statistics and are in line with best practices in developed countries. The statistics will provide valuable insights to policymakers and stakeholders in measuring recent economic conditions over a shorter period of time.
Malaysia’s GDP in the third quarter of 2023 grew by 3.3 per cent as against 2.9 per cent in the second quarter of 2023. The Services sector continued to steer the overall performance in this quarter, while Construction sector remained modest.
The Department Of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) in its release today (Oct 20) dubbed, Advance Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Estimates, stated the agriculture sector top showed a slight recovery after a declined in the previous quarter. Nevertheless, Mining & quarrying and Manufacturing sectors contracted in this quarter. The total sum of three quarters in 2023 concludes that Malaysia’s economy grew at 3.9 per cent (3H 2022: 9.2%), with moderate economic growth in the third quarter.
The Services sector increased by 5.1 per cent (Q2 2023: 4.7%) in the third quarter of 2023. The favourable performance was attributed to the Wholesale & retail trade, Transportation & storage and Business services sub-sectors. The Construction sector grew by 5.8 per cent (Q2 2023: 6.2%) in the third quarter of 2023.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture sector grew marginally by 0.8 per cent (Q2 2023: -1.1%) in this quarter, attributed to better production in the Oil palm sub-sectors. The Mining & quarrying sector decreased marginally by 0.1 per cent (Q2 2023: -2.3%), contributed by the decrease in the production of Natural gas sub-sector.
The Manufacturing sector also declined marginally by 0.1 per cent (Q2 2023: 0.1%) in this quarter, influenced by Electrical, electronic & optical products and Petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastic products following weaker external demand.
Chief Statistician of Malaysia, Dato’ Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said: However, the Mining & quarrying sector decreased marginally by 0.1 per cent (Q2 2023: -2.3%), contributed by the decrease in the production of Natural gas sub-sector. The Manufacturing sector also declined marginally by 0.1 per cent (Q2 2023: 0.1%) in this quarter, influenced by Electrical, electronic & optical products; and Petroleum, chemical, rubber & plastic products following weaker external demand. Nevertheless, Beverages & tobacco products and Transport equipment, other manufacturing & repair increased in this quarter driven by domestic demand which led to a significant boost in production activities.
Mohd Uzir added, “The computation of advance GDP estimates is based on availability of various data sources. In general, there are differences between the advance GDP estimates and the actual GDP due to the availability of data from various sources during the compilation period.
