AGL 40.29 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (0.22%)
AIRLINK 130.29 Increased By ▲ 1.18 (0.91%)
BOP 6.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-4.7%)
CNERGY 4.04 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.25%)
DCL 8.82 Increased By ▲ 0.37 (4.38%)
DFML 42.75 Increased By ▲ 1.50 (3.64%)
DGKC 87.41 Increased By ▲ 0.41 (0.47%)
FCCL 33.78 Increased By ▲ 0.43 (1.29%)
FFBL 65.90 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFL 10.69 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (1.42%)
HUBC 113.75 Increased By ▲ 3.05 (2.76%)
HUMNL 16.10 Increased By ▲ 0.87 (5.71%)
KEL 4.80 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.42%)
KOSM 7.99 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (2.04%)
MLCF 42.05 Increased By ▲ 0.15 (0.36%)
NBP 61.10 Increased By ▲ 0.60 (0.99%)
OGDC 184.79 Increased By ▲ 1.99 (1.09%)
PAEL 25.55 Increased By ▲ 0.19 (0.75%)
PIBTL 7.26 Increased By ▲ 1.00 (15.97%)
PPL 146.55 Decreased By ▼ -1.26 (-0.85%)
PRL 24.56 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PTC 16.47 Increased By ▲ 0.23 (1.42%)
SEARL 70.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.07%)
TELE 7.36 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.82%)
TOMCL 36.28 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.06%)
TPLP 8.13 Increased By ▲ 0.28 (3.57%)
TREET 15.87 Increased By ▲ 0.57 (3.73%)
TRG 51.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.5%)
UNITY 27.46 Increased By ▲ 0.11 (0.4%)
WTL 1.28 Increased By ▲ 0.05 (4.07%)
BR100 9,893 Increased By 51.1 (0.52%)
BR30 30,290 Increased By 253.7 (0.84%)
KSE100 93,026 Increased By 505.2 (0.55%)
KSE30 28,881 Increased By 94.4 (0.33%)

Malaysia's economy expanded at the fastest pace in more than two years in the second quarter on the back of domestic demand and robust exports, defying expectations for a slight slowdown. The strong performance is likely to add to speculation that Prime Minister Najib Razak will call early polls to take advantage of improving economic conditions and a fractured opposition. Southeast Asia's third-largest economy grew 5.8 percent in April-June from a year earlier, data showed on Friday, well above a Reuters poll forecast of 5.4 percent.
Growth accelerated from 5.6 percent in the first three months of the year, which had also been better than expected.
Following the data, Malaysia's central bank raised its 2017 growth forecast to above 4.8 percent. The last forecast in March predicted growth of 4.3 to 4.8 percent. "Based on the numbers from Q1 and Q2, we expect (full year) growth will go beyond our earlier forecast," Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor Muhammad Ibrahim told a news conference.
Construction, services and manufacturing all grew at a faster pace in the quarter, offsetting weakness in mining and agriculture. For a breakdown of the GDP data, see
Muhammad expected domestic consumption and exports to improve further in the second half, but warned there were always risks related to global factors. Exports grew 10 percent on-year in June, well below May's 32.5 percent. But analysts believe the slide may be due to seasonal factors, noting global demand still seems strong.

Comments

Comments are closed.