MALAYSIAN ECONOMY PROJECTED TO EXPAND BY 5.3 PCT NEXT YEAR

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- Malaysia's economy is projected to
expand by 5.3 per cent next year, spurred by healthy private consumption
sending, says MIDF Research.

In a research note Friday, MIDF said the positive growth catalysts would
also come from, among others, healthy private consumption spending, pull back of
budget deficit, structural reforms, domestic businesses and foreign direct
investment which would lift capital spending to a more sustained level.

However, the research firm said the upshot to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
growth would inevitably be slow in the fourth-quarter of the year.

"We expect real GDP in the fourth-quarter of this year to ease further,
projecting to increase by 4.8 per cent after a 5.3 per cent gain in the third
quarter of this year," it said.

"Should real GDP fall along our target, the full year growth will be 7.2 per
cent. In our view, the halt of the economic upswing is a mere shift to a lower
growth gear and heading towards the long-term growth trajectory of 4.8 per cent
to 5.0 per cent.

"We expect the current slowdown to pick up in the second-quarter of next
year on the premise of improving business cycle swing that should hit the trough
by the first-quarter of next year," it added.

-- BERNAMA