Malaysia GDP Growth Softens In Q1

(RTTNews) - Malaysia's economy logged a softer growth in the first quarter, driven by weaker performance in key sectors, advance estimate from the Department of Statistics showed Friday.

Gross domestic product logged an annual growth of 5.3 percent in the first quarter, which was slower than the 6.3 percent rise seen in the preceding quarter. This was the weakest growth since the second quarter of 2025 and also came in line with expectations.

On a quarterly basis, GDP contracted 4.4 percent, in contrast to the 3.3 percent expansion seen in the fourth quarter.

The production-side of GDP showed that the service, manufacturing, construction and farm sectors posted slower annual growth, while mining and quarrying output shrank from the last year.

Services output expanded 5.4 percent and manufacturing grew 5.8 percent. The agriculture sector registered 2.8 percent growth and construction output was up 7.8 percent. Meanwhile, mining and quarrying output fell 1.1 percent.

The International Monetary Fund projected Malaysia's economic growth to ease to 4.7 percent this year from 5.2 percent in 2025.

Another report from the statistical office showed that inflation accelerated largely due to higher transport costs.

Consumer price inflation rose to 1.7 percent in March, as expected, from 1.4 percent in February. Core inflation climbed slightly to 2.1 percent from 2.0 percent in the previous month.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices edged up to 0.3 percent from 0.2 percent in February.