KUALA LUMPUR – Current positive economic indicators will likely mean a strong performance for the coming third quarter (Q3), said Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
During the recent launch of the Karnival Gegar Kerjaya 2022, the minister said that the government is optimistic about Malaysia’s Q3 performance partly due to the improvement of the country’s unemployment rate which stood at 3.7% in July of this year.
He made the comparison to the rate of unemployment during the pandemic period, which was noted at 5.3% in May of 2020.
He said that the decline in unemployment rate shows a good trend and is a positive economic indicator, showing that positive growth is still being maintained.
Malaysia achieved an 8.9% growth in its gross domestic product for the second quarter, ahead of its forecast of 6.7% expected by a Reuters poll and 7.0% median that was expected by Bloomberg.
Furthermore, Malaysia also achieved an overall gross domestic product growth of 6.9% in the first half of this year, another positive economic indicator which contributes to the expectation of Q3’s results.
Speaking on the subject of Budget 2023, Tengku Zafrul said that the presentation of the budget for next year is set for Oct 7 this year.
He stated that the upcoming Budget 2023 will be focusing on four primary issues which are namely the people, economy, business, and also the government.
He added that the coming year would be when the government is planning on implementing reforms.
Apart from that, he said that next year is also when the global economy is expected to be even more challenging.
For that, he said that Malaysia should equip itself when it comes to taking the right steps due to the fact that the economic forecasts for the coming year will depend on the worldwide economic situation.
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