KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded a 4.9% Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and total trade surpassed RM3 trillion for the first time last year, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
According to Anwar, the 4.9% growth surpassed official projections of between 4.0% and 4.8%.
“Not only did our GDP grow, but the performance of the ringgit is the best in five years, at RM4.05 to US$1. The Bursa Malaysia index also surpassed 1,700 points, its highest in seven years,” said Anwar during Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQT) in Parliament on Tuesday (Jan 20).
Anwar said further details on the record total trade achieved last year will be announced by the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) later this afternoon.
“History is made. Total trade last year surpassed RM3 trillion for the first time,” he said.
At the same time, Anwar noted that the unemployment rate was 2.9% in Nov last year, the lowest in 11 years. He attributed this to political stability, policy clarity and the hard work of the civil service and businesses.
Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad (BN-Simpang Renggam) interjected to ask how Malaysia would protect this growth from heightening geopolitical tensions. Anwar responded that the Govt is exploring new markets and has already managed to penetrate new areas to increase trade access.
He added that in the first nine months of last year, approved investments reached RM285.2bil, a 13.2% increase compared to the previous year.
Anwar credited the Govt’s political will in implementing challenging policies such as the Public Finance and Fiscal Responsibility Act and subsidy rationalisation.
He stressed that these positive figures would only be meaningful if channeled back to the people through welfare programmes like Sumbangan Tunai Rahmah (STR) and the minimum wage increase.
“Hopefully, we can maintain this stability so we can come up with more convincing policies for the people this year,” he said.
