KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 20): Advanced projections show Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 3.3% year-on-year (y-o-y) in the third quarter of 2023 (3Q2023), compared with 2.9% y-o-y in 2Q2023, mainly driven by growth in the services sector, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
This is the first time the DOSM released its quarterly advance GDP estimate, which is aimed at meeting the demand for timely macroeconomic statistics, and providing valuable insights to policymakers and stakeholders in measuring recent economic conditions over a shorter period.
In a statement on Friday, chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said that the computation of advance GDP estimates is based on the availability of various data sources.
"In general, there are differences between the advance GDP estimate and the actual GDP, due to the availability of data from various sources during the compilation period," said Mohd Uzir.
According to him, the advanced GDP growth projection of 3.3% in 3Q2023 was supported by the services sector, which continued to steer the overall performance in the quarter, with an increase of 5.1%, from 4.7% in 2Q2023.
“The favourable performance was attributed to the wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, and business services sub-sectors,” he said.
Growth in the construction sector also remained modest at 5.8% in 3Q2023 (from 6.2% in 2Q2023), while the agriculture sector grew marginally by 0.8% (from -1.1% in 2Q2023), on the back of better production in the oil palm sub-sector.
The mining and quarrying sector, on the other hand, dropped marginally by 0.1%, against -2.3% in 2Q2023, mainly due to lower production in the natural gas sub-sector.
"The mining and quarrying and manufacturing sectors contracted in the quarter. Hence, the sum of three [consecutive] quarters of 2023 concludes that Malaysia's economy grew by 3.9% (compared with 9.2% by 3Q2022), with moderate economic growth in the third quarter," he noted.
The manufacturing sector also declined by -0.1% (from 0.1% in 2Q2023), dragged by weaker external demand for electrical, electronics and optical products, as well as petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products.
"Nevertheless, beverages and tobacco products and transport equipment, as well as other manufacturing and repair [products], increased in the quarter, driven by domestic demand, which led to a significant boost in production activities," he added.