Malaysia's economy grows 4.5% year on year in Q4, beats forecast

[KUALA LUMPUR] Malaysia's economy expanded 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015 from a year earlier, better than forecast, even as sluggish commodity exports and private consumption weighed on growth.

The current account surplus also widened to RM11.4 billion (S$3.84 billion) in the October-December period compared with RM5.1 billion in the previous quarter, according to data released by the Department of Statistics on Thursday.

Full-year growth for 2015 came in at 5 per cent, down from 6 per cent in 2014 but was within the government's and central bank's estimates of between 4.5 and 5.5 per cent.

Economists in a Reuters poll expected annual growth of 4.3 per cent for the fourth quarter, its slowest since the first quarter of 2013 when it grew at the same pace. The economy expanded 4.7 per cent in the third quarter.

REUTERS