Malaysian economic growth hits 10-year low as coronavirus fears loom
- Growth slowed to 3.6 per cent in final three months of 2019, the lowest since the height of the global financial crisis
- First quarter of 2020 also likely to disappoint, as Bank Negara governor warns of impact of the Covid-19 virus outbreak
The country’s central bank reported today that annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth fell to 4.3 per cent in 2019, the lowest in a decade.
Bank Negara also reported that for the final three months of 2019 growth had slowed to 3.6 per cent, the lowest since late 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.
Meanwhile, Bank Negara governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said growth for the first quarter of 2020 would be hit by the Covid-19 virus outbreak.
“The overall impact of the virus on the Malaysian economy will depend on the duration and spread of the outbreak as well as policy responses by authorities,” said Nor Shamsiah.
Growth, she said, had been hit by supply disruptions to the commodity sector – including lower output of palm and crude oil – but annual growth remained within the bank’s target.