It was an extremely healthy growth by any standard. 6.2% for Q1 2014 for Malaysia. In fact, the consensus by a poll of 22 economists by Bloomberg showed the expectation to be 5.7%. In the last quarter of 2013, the growth was 5.1%. Bank Negara governor, Tan Sri Zeti Aziz said that the first quarter growth was ‘exceptional and very encouraging’ For the year of 2014, Bank Negara expects Malaysia’s economy to grow between 4.5 – 5.5%. This growth is due to recovery in trade sector as well as a resilient domestic demand and thus the investment activities remained robust.
For Q1, private consumption growth is strong, at 7.1%, supported by stable employment conditions and continued wage growth while private investments grew a robust 14.1%. However, there is a contraction in public-sector investment. Services sector went up 6.6% while manufacturing sector grew 6.8% due to the strong performance in export. As expected, construction grew 18.9% due to the residential sub sector. it’s not easy to find contractors these days. Just ask any smaller developers and you would know.
Though transactions continue to decrease, when we look at encouraging numbers such as these, it means that demand is going to be strong moving forward and current slowdown is almost certainly due to uncertainty and the way too high prices in some areas. Look at any projects which are priced below RM500,000 and happen to be in an area deemend acceptable, it will be sold out. Latest one being Midfields 2 which is said to be in an area which is 8 minutes away from mid Valley but only during NON-PEAK hours. Anyway, I think majority of all areas in KL are like that, so it’s not something unusual.
written on 18 May 2014
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