Malaysia’s GDP growth Beats Expectations

Malaysia’s economy rose more than expected in the quarter ending December, after exports surges due to weaker Ringgit in 2015.

Gross domestic product growth increased at a 5 percent annual rate in 2015, down from 6 percent recorded in 2014, but better than 4.9 percent economists expected.

“The economy grew 1.5 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the final three months of the year, up from 0.7 per cent in the September quarter and ahead of forecasts for 1.2 per cent.

That took the year-on-year rate in the December quarter to 4.5 per cent. Although that was a decline from the 4.7 per cent pace in the September quarter, it beat expectations for 4.1 per cent growth,” according to Financial Time.

“Manufacturing and services are still doing OK,” Rahul Bajoria, a Singapore-based economist at Barclays Plc, said before the announcement. “It is not growing at the same pace as was say, back in 2014, but it’s not slowing down as dramatically as one would think it would with all the headwinds that are there.”