Malaysia GDP Growth Eases To 5.3% In Q3

(RTTNews) - Malaysia's economic growth softened in the third quarter amid a contraction in the mining and quarrying sector, the Department of Statistics revealed on Monday.

Gross domestic product registered an annual growth of 5.3 percent in the third quarter after rising 5.9 percent in the previous quarter, the flash data said.

On a quarterly basis, GDP expanded strongly by 4.6 percent in the September quarter, much faster than the 0.8 percent rise in the second quarter.

On the production side, the annual growth in the service sector moderated to 5.1 percent from 5.9 percent. The agriculture sector grew 4.0 percent versus a 7.2 percent gain in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the mining and quarrying sector declined 3.4 percent annually, reversing a 2.7 percent rise in the previous month. The decline was attributed to lower production in the natural gas, crude oil, and condensate sub-sectors.