Malaysia’s economic growth in Q3 weakened to 4.4% from Q2’s 4.9%, the slowest in a year.
While Bank Negara Malaysia—the country's central bank—maintained its full-year growth target of 4.3%-4.8%, the government has estimated growth of 4.7%.
Malaysia was the only Southeast Asian nation that reported faster quarter-on-quarter growth in Q2, but the country has faced contraction in exports in the second half of the year, with shipments dwindling to their lowest in nearly three years in September.
Last week, the central bank cut banks’ statutory reserve requirement for the first time in three years to inject liquidity to boost Malaysia's economic growth.
The central bank didn’t make any change to the key policy interest rate, which already saw a cut in May
Other major Q3 numbers
Malaysia’s current account surplus dropped to 11.5 billion ringgit (US $2.78 billion) from the 14.3 billion ringgit in Q2.
The headline inflation stood at 1.3%. The central bank expects headline inflation to be low in 2019 and modest though higher next year.
The ringgit MYR= fell 1.1% against the US dollar in Q3. The central bank attributed the fall to heightened risk aversion amid the US-China trade war.
