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  • 7 hours ago
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) is keeping Malaysia’s 2026 gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast at 5 per cent, saying there is no need for a revision at this stage.

Governor Datuk Seri Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said growth has exceeded expectations over the past three quarters, with key drivers including domestic consumption, investment, exports and tourism remaining intact.

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00:00Which side does the bank think the risk is skewed, upside or downside?
00:07The result was so good.
00:09And looking at the accelerating credit card spending and the very strong credit growth,
00:17does the bank see any risk for the economy to overheat in future, disregarding the geopolitical
00:27situation completely, because it's very unpredictable.
00:32Thank you, Gigi.
00:34Maybe Governor, if you would like to respond first before we take further questions?
00:39Sure.
00:41On the first question with regard to whether we will revise the growth number,
00:47Pada masa ini tak perlu, but any revision normally will happen during the budget announcement.
00:54Norman, in terms of how broad-based is growth, it is broad-based.
00:58As you know, the economy is very diversified.
01:01And of course, we have seen that the main driver is domestic demand, but we have strong support
01:07from the external sector coming this quarter and last quarter especially.
01:10So I would say it is broad-based.
01:12And even within the export sector itself, the support for the economy has also been diversified
01:19and broad-based as well.
01:20And we have seen both E&E and non-E&E also growing.
01:25And in addition to that, we also see increase in the ICT services sector as well.
01:29So this is broad-based.
01:31And whether it is sustainable as we go into second half of this year, we have seen that
01:37we have been experiencing growth that is above our expectation for the last three quarters.
01:44And looking at the drivers of growth in terms of consumption, investment, exports, tourism
01:51and the rest, all these factors that are driving growth is still there and will continue to
01:57take us into the second half.
01:59But having said that, of course there will be some adjustment to the drivers of this growth
02:05itself.
02:05And given the uncertainty in the global economy, uncertainty in terms of the Middle East conflict,
02:12whether it's going to be prolonged or it's going to be even worse or it's going to get
02:15better, of course this may weigh on the growth itself.
02:20And if you look in terms of growth at the second half of last year, it was very good at
02:265.4%.
02:28So of course there could also be some basic fact for the second half of this year.
02:32But having said that, we are confident for this year, it will be within our range, as I said,
02:40most likely it will be around 5% figure.
02:46So to your question on the balance of risk, it is subjected to both, downside and also upside
02:52risk.
02:53As you could see, I think I've listed three upside risks, the de-escalation of the Middle East conflict,
02:58if it de-escalated and it provided, it supported a stronger global growth, certainly it will
03:06be an upside.
03:07Second, if the demand for E&E continues to be strong, that will also be an upside for
03:12growth.
03:13Third, if we see higher tourism arrivals and higher tourism activities and spending and
03:18also the ICT services giving the demand that's coming in, that will also be an upside.
03:23But of course there's two possible downside risks if there's prolonged conflict
03:28in the middle, and so if we see lower the expected commodity production given the weather conditions
03:34and the rest.
03:38Any overheating, I don't see that at this point of time, despite that we have recorded strong
03:44growth for the last three quarters, we don't see excessive demand pressure at this point
03:49of time.
03:50Demand is steady and resilient, but it's not excessive.
03:59I appreciate it.
04:01I appreciate it.
04:03You
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