BERA: The government's post-Covid-19 economic recovery efforts are on the right track to help restart the economy, said caretaker prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He said this was demonstrated in Malaysia having registered its strongest economic growth in years, with the gross domestic product (GDP) surged 14.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2022 from 8.9 per cent in Q2 2022.
The 14.2 per cent is the fastest pace posted by any Southeast Asian nation during the period, surpassing Vietnam's GDP growth of 13.7 per cent.
He said this showed that the government's policies, such as reopening borders and economic activities have had a positive impact.
"The government had also successfully steered the post-pandemic efforts, spurred by the resumption of economic activities in line with the transition to the pandemic phase, which has encouraged private consumption and the labour market.
"This also means that the opposition's accusations that the government had failed to recover the economy, are completely false," he said at an event at the Kampung Bongkok Orang Asli village here today.
Also present was Barisan Nasional's (BN) Kemayan candidate, Khairulnizam Mohamad Zuldin.
Ismail Sabri said the unemployment rate also continued to fall, with 3.6 per cent recorded in Sept compared to 4.6 per cent in the same period last year.
"The business sector is also strengthening, with a trade value of RM161.7 billion for the manufacturing sector in September, marking a 19.5 per cent rise compared to the same period last year," he said.
He said Malaysia's economic boost during his administration as prime minister has proven that the government is serious about upholding the welfare of its people.
He said the government has come up with various recovery policies to steer Malaysia out of the economic doldrums despite facing a global economic slowdown.
"I hope that this momentum will continue. However, the global economic uncertainty may have an impact on the national GDP.
"We will continue to monitor this to ensure that Malaysia is not heavily impacted, although we realise that impacts will still be there due to our trade relations with the rest of the world."
