Gross Domestic Product Second Quarter 2013 (Updated : 21/08/2013)


ECONOMIC GROWTH

In the second quarter of 2013, the Malaysia's economy grew at 4.3 per cent. On the production side, all sectors registered a positive growth with the Services continued to be the main catalyst. An improvement in Manufacturing as well as strong growth in Construction have also contributed to the economic growth in this quarter.

The increase on the expenditure side primarily mirrored by the positive contributions from the Private Final Consumption Expenditure and Gross Fixed Capital Formation. The expansion in both expenditures have offset the sluggish performance in external trade.

The composition of GDP on production side was led by the Services with a share of 54.8 per cent. Meanwhile, Private Final Consumption Expenditure accounted for 51.5 per cent on the expenditure side.

Seasonally adjusted data is released for the first time to complement with the information of the country's short term economic growth. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted, the GDP grew 1.4 per cent, in contrast to the negative 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2013.

SERVICES

Services sector registered 4.8 per cent growth supported by the Wholesale & Retail Trade and Communication. The growth of 5.0 percent in Wholesale & Retail Trade was underpinned by Retail activities which expanded to 7.3 per cent against 6.9 per cent in the preceding quarter. Communication augmented further to 9.8 per cent following an increase in data communication and telephone services.

In this quarter, Business Services rose to 8.1 per cent (Q1 2013: 7.0 per cent) boosted by the better performance in professional and computer services.

Nevertheless, the decline of 0.2 per cent in Finance & Insurance has contributed to the moderation performance of Services sector.

MANUFACTURING

The Manufacturing sector picked up to 3.3 per cent mainly supported by the Transport Equipment & Other Manufactures; Non-Metallic Mineral products, Basic Metal & Fabricated Metal products; and Petroleum, Chemical, Rubber & Plastic products.

Transport Equipment & Other Manufactures advanced to 14.6 per cent underpinned by the sturdy production in motor vehicles, parts & accessories and repairing & building of ships. The double-digit expansion in fabricated metal products has attributed to the 5.8 per cent growth in Non-metallic Mineral products, Basic Metal & Fabricated Metal products.

Petroleum, Chemical, Rubber & Plastic products rose to 2.6 per cent (Q1 2013: -2.3 per cent) fuelled by the reversing trend in refined petroleum products.

CONSTRUCTION

Construction sector grew steadily at 9.9 per cent backed by the impressive performance of Residential at 21.4 per cent (Q1 2013: 9.8 per cent). Furthermore, Civil Engineering sustained a double-digit growth of 10.4 per cent driven by the infrastructure projects on transportation and utility.

In line with the performance of Residential and Civil Engineering, Special Trade continued to register a favourable growth of 8.9 per cent. 

MINING AND QUARRYING

The Mining and Quarrying sector rebounded to a positive momentum of 4.1 per cent. The reversal growth was contributed by the recovery in the production of natural gas (8.1 per cent), condensate (2.5 per cent) and crude oil (1.8 per cent).

AGRICULTURE

Following the sluggish performance in Forestry & Logging (-10.1 per cent) and Rubber (-26.2 per cent), the Agriculture sector moderated to a marginal rate of 0.4 per cent in this quarter. Moreover, Oil Palm posted a slower growth of 1.2 per cent due to lower production.

Nonetheless, Other Agriculture and Livestock recorded a significant growth of 11.2 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively. Substantial contribution to Other Agriculture came from higher production of vegetables and fruits.

FINAL CONSUMPTION EXPENDITURE

Final Consumption Expenditure expanded further to 8.0 per cent from 6.1 per cent in the previous quarter.

Private Final Consumption Expenditure remained relatively stable at 7.2 per cent as compared to 7.5 per cent in the first quarter. The growth was largely backed by food & beverages, housing & utilities, communication and recreation expenditures.

Government Final Consumption Expenditure escalated to 11.1 per cent (Q1 2013: 0.1 per cent) due to higher spending on supplies and services during the quarter.

GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION

After registering double-digit growth for five consecutive quarters, the Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) grew at 6.0 per cent in the current quarter. The moderation was due to the decline of 0.5 per cent in Machinery & Equipment against 15.1 per cent in the preceding quarter. Meanwhile, the overall growth in GFCF was supported by Structure (10.9 per cent) and Other Assets (10.1 per cent).

Private sector was the prime mover in GFCF which expanded to 12.7 per cent, while the Public sector contracted to negative 6.4 per cent.

EXPORTS AND IMPORTS

Exports dropped further to negative 5.2 per cent mirrored by the contraction in the exports of goods. Exports of goods contributed 84.1 per cent towards total Exports.

In addition, Imports posted a negative growth of 2.0 per cent due to the drop in imports of goods particularly in electrical machinery and petroleum products.

REVISION

Data for the first quarter of 2013 has been revised particularly in the following sectors/ components; Manufacturing, Construction, Import Duties, GFCF and Changes in inventories.