MARKET DEVELOPMENT
Malaysia GDP to Grow 5%, Says Nomura Research
Malaysia GDP to Grow 5%, Says Nomura Research
09/10/2015 (The Star) - Nomura Research expects Malaysia’s economy to grow at a resilient 5% this year following the strong trade data.
It said on Thursday it expects the current account surplus to be at a sizeable 3.3% of gross domestic product while Bank Negara Malaysia is expected to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate.
Nomura Research said Malaysia’s trade surplus surged to RM10.2bil in August from RM2.4bil in July, as exports improved and imports declined. The growth was significantly above expectations (Consensus: RM4.1bil; Nomura: RM4.9bil).
Export growth was driven by manufactured exports which are likely benefitting from the ringgit depreciation and US growth, offsetting the drag from commodities.
Export growth rose to 4.1% on-year from 3.4% in July, in line with its forecast of 4.0% and above consensus expectations of 1.3%.
“This was led by electronics and palm oil, which offset declines in crude oil and liquefied natural gas,” it said.
Imports fell surprisingly by 6.1% after rising by 5.9% in July (Consensus: 1.7%; Nomura: 2.5%). The fall in import growth was led by capital and intermediate goods imports, but consumption goods remained strong at about 13.7%.
Imports of consumption goods remained solid while imports of capital goods excluding volatile transport equipment continued to improve.
It said on Thursday it expects the current account surplus to be at a sizeable 3.3% of gross domestic product while Bank Negara Malaysia is expected to maintain the Overnight Policy Rate.
Nomura Research said Malaysia’s trade surplus surged to RM10.2bil in August from RM2.4bil in July, as exports improved and imports declined. The growth was significantly above expectations (Consensus: RM4.1bil; Nomura: RM4.9bil).
Export growth was driven by manufactured exports which are likely benefitting from the ringgit depreciation and US growth, offsetting the drag from commodities.
Export growth rose to 4.1% on-year from 3.4% in July, in line with its forecast of 4.0% and above consensus expectations of 1.3%.
“This was led by electronics and palm oil, which offset declines in crude oil and liquefied natural gas,” it said.
Imports fell surprisingly by 6.1% after rising by 5.9% in July (Consensus: 1.7%; Nomura: 2.5%). The fall in import growth was led by capital and intermediate goods imports, but consumption goods remained strong at about 13.7%.
Imports of consumption goods remained solid while imports of capital goods excluding volatile transport equipment continued to improve.