Malaysia's recovery in 2022 is expected to be uneven across different sectors with export trends doing well but imports not recovering as much, which indicates a weaker domestic economy, said a senior official at the country's Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

"Almost 10 per cent of GDP has been lost in the past couple of years (due to the pandemic) and that obviously has an impact on Malaysia's progress," said Nurhisham Hussein, chief strategy officer of the EPF, Malaysia's compulsory pension scheme for all citizens and permanent residents working in the country.

He made these points during the Regional Outlook Forum event organised by the Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute, a Singapore-based research centre.