KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will not go into recession as continued growth looms in 2023, Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said.
Nor Shamsiah said the Malaysian economy would continue to be supported by the continued recovery in the labour market, expected V-shape recovery for the tourism sector and strong investment from both public and the private sector.
Besides that, she said the global economy was still growing.
"We are not seeing a global recession (this year). In fact, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had revised its earlier outlook not just for last year but even this year.
"These factors are more than enough to offset the moderation in export that will emanate from the slower global growth," she told reporters during Bank Negara's briefing on the country's economic growth here today.
The IMF has made a slight increase to its global growth outlook for 2023 of 2.9 per cent, up from 2.7 per cent forecast in October, versus 3.4 per cent last year.
The revision was made due to "surprisingly resilient" demand in the US and Europe, easing energy costs and the reopening of China's economy after Beijing abandoned its strict Covid-19 restrictions.
Malaysia's labour market conditions remained broadly stable in December 2022, with both unemployment rate and labour force participation rate holding unchanged at 3.6 per cent and 69.8 per cent respectively, according to the Department of Statistics.
This was aligned with full operation of all economic activities for nearly one year amid persistent scaring effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economy.
For the full year, unemployment rate averaged 3.9 per cent (2021: 4.6 per cent), remaining above the pre-pandemic 2015-2019 long term average of 3.3 per cent.
For investment, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority secured RM194 billion in investment from January to September 2022.
Some key infrastructure projects include the RM50 billion East Coast Rail Line, RM16.6 billion Light Rail Transit 3, RM16.5 billion MyDigital 5G as well as the RM16 billion Pan Borneo Highway projects.
