KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2017 proved that economic doomsayers were wrong, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
Calling them irresponsible quarters, Abdul Rahman said the naysayers had made many predictions and forecasts that the nation's economy was on the brink of collapse.
"They said the government was going bankrupt, investors were fleeing the country and many more but they have been proven wrong over and over again.
"Today’s figures released by the Statistics Department has reasserted that these people are not to be taken seriously when they are talking about our national economy," he said in a statement today.
In the department's report on GDP for the second quarter of 2017, Malaysia’s economy remained its uptrend momentum since the first quarter of 2017 which registered a growth of 5.6 per cent.
The continuous expansion in services and manufacturing have induced the performance of the economy on the production side.
The growth on the expenditure side was driven mainly by private final consumption expenditure which contributed 53.5 per cent to the GDP for the quarter under review.
Abdul Rahman, who is also Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications director, said growth momentum remains strong, investments keep flowing in and the economy perseveres through uncertain times and challenging external conditions due to good economic management by the government.
He said the effective leadership of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, through the National Transformation Program (NTP) spearheaded by the premier, had made the economic growth possible.
"His track record of managing the economy speaks for itself," said Abdul Rahman calling all Malaysians to support the prime minister in his economic agenda.
He pointed out that the support will create more jobs, lift people’s income and ultimately help the country achieve high income nation status by 2020.
At the same time, he also noted that private consumption registered its fastest growth since the first quarter of 2015.
He described it as a sign of high consumer confidence, lifted by the government’s policy such as the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M), rising household income while investments growth remained positive contributing 27 per cent to Malaysia’s GDP.
Abdul Rahman said the strengthening of Malaysia's economy was endorsed by credit ratings agencies.
Fitch, one of the "Big Three credit rating agencies", reaffirmed Malaysia’s sovereign rating of ‘A-‘ on the backdrop of stronger GDP growth compared to other countries with similar rating score.
It also raised Malaysia's full year GDP growth forecast to 5.1% from 4.5% previously.
Moody’s Investors Service also released a report entitled "Government of Malaysia: Credit profile relatively resilient despite external vulnerabilities" which reaffirms Malaysia’s resiliency amid global uncertainties.
Other global agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have also revised Malaysia's GDP growth upwards earlier this year, he noted.