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KUALA LUMPUR: The Department of Statistics sees challenging conditions for the Malaysian economy due to the application of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) following the third wave of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Statistical chief Datuk Seri, Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin, said on Wednesday that Sabah, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, which are under the CMCO, contributed 46.6% to the economy last year.
Based on the economic performance of July and August, the third quarter was expected to be better than the second despite the recurrence of Covid-19 cases towards the end of September.
However, Dr. Mohd Uzir highlighted that the CMCO in these states and any consequences on the activities of industries within these areas will have an impact on the overall economic performance of the country. The CMCO was imposed on October 14 for two weeks until October 27 and was extended until November 9 due to the increase in Covid-19 cases.
“However, the target CMCO is considered the best approach to mitigate the effect of the pandemic and regain the momentum of the economic recovery,” he said.
He added that in terms of economic outlook, Malaysia’s manufacturing sales in August totaled RM118.5 billion compared to RM119.2 billion in July.
The performance of merchandise trade for August, for both exports and imports, decreased by 14.5% and 2.2% compared to July. However, Malaysia’s merchandise exports recorded strong annual growth of 13.6% in September.
He said that imports continued to show signs of recovery with a minor fall of 3.6% due to a better performance of capital and consumer goods.
The value of wholesale and retail trade sales expanded 2.5% in August compared to the previous month, mainly driven by the growth of wholesale trade.
“This sector is gradually recovering year on year with diminishing negative growth that is expected to improve further in September.
“According to the recent Leading Index (LI), Malaysia is expected to continue the recovery phase by registering 108.5 points in August 2020 with an annual growth rate of 7.6%,” he said.
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