Asian Development Bank Maintains Malaysia’s GDP Growth Forecast for 2021; Downgrades 2020 GDP

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has maintained its projection for Malaysia's 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) at a growth rate of 6.5% year-on-year (YoY) in its September Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2020 Update. However, ADB has revised its GDP growth forecast for 2020 to -5% YoY from -4% YoY projected earlier in April 2020, as containment measures for COVID-19 were prolonged further than anticipated, and with the global economy plummeting into a sharp recession.

The ADO 2020 Update reported that the Malaysian economy would continue to decline as consumption, exports and investment were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with restrictions on travel and business activity, as well as weak labour market conditions re...