Malaysia Economy Grows 4.5% In 4th Quarter

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- The 4.5 per cent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) achieved in the fourth quarter of last year is unexpected, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The growth stemmed from strengthened domestic and external demand," said Najib, who is also Finance Minister, when announcing the economic performance for the quarter Wednesday.

Last year, the country's economic growth contracted to minus 1.7 per cent, lower than the projected three per cent, he said.

The economy recorded a contraction in three quarters -- 6.2 per cent in the first quarter, 3.9 per cent in second quarter and 1.2 per cent in third quarter, he said.

Asked for this year's forecast, Najib said: "We are quite bullish about this."

On whether the worst was over for the country's economy, he said that it was over provided that nothing seriously unexpected with respect to the global economy.

"For example, any major sovereign collapse barring unforeseen circumstances of that nature, we could safely say that we have recovered from the crisis and we should be looking forward to a strong growth for 2010."

nampaknya ada possibility interest rate nak naik nih..kena la bayar higher amount for housing loan utk sesapa yg based on BFR/BLR huhu

Fed orders emergency rate cut, other banks follow

nampaknya financial crisis dah makin serious nih...first time aku tgk sume central bank major countries cut rate diorang....to boost economy diorang la kan

msia plak..any action from bnm?

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve, acting in coordination with other global central banking authorities, cut a key U.S. interest rate by half a percentage point Wednesday to steady a teetering economy.

The Fed reduced its key rate from 2 percent to 1.5 percent.

In Europe, which also has been hard hit by the financial crisis, the Bank of England cut its rate by half a point to 4.5 percent, while the European Central Bank sliced its rate to 3.75 percent.

Other central banks also taking part include the banks of Canada, Sweden, and Switzerland.

China also cut its key interest rates Wednesday for a second time in less than one month to stimulate slowing economic growth amid the global credit crisis.

Malaysia Inflation May Quicken, Prompt Rate Increase

Korang ikut tak keadaan ekonomi kat msia nih...nampaknya inflation makin naik...so jumaat ni akan ada meeting utk decide whether bank negara akan naikkan interest rate ke tak...

July 22 (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia's inflation probably accelerated to a 26-year high in June, intensifying expectations the central bank will this week raise interest rates for the first time since April 2006.

Consumer prices rose 6.6 percent last month from a year earlier, according to the median forecast of 19 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Bank Negara Malaysia may raise its overnight policy rate on July 25, according to 12 of 20 analysts. None of the 11 economists in the last survey in May had expected an increase this month.

Consumer prices may climb 7 percent ``or even higher'' this month after a similar gain in June, Second Finance Minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop said yesterday. Inflation probably exceeded 6 percent in June, central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said on July 9, raising the estimate from an earlier prediction of 5 percent. The inflation report is due tomorrow.

The last time inflation was above 6 percent was June 1998, when the central bank's then benchmark three-month intervention rate was 11 percent. Malaysia's overnight policy rate, introduced in April 2004, has been kept at 3.5 percent for 17 straight meetings, and, together with Hong Kong's and Thailand's, is the second lowest in Asia according to Bloomberg data.

Concerns that inflation will hurt growth and erode investors' returns have added to a slump in Southeast Asia's stocks and bonds.