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22nd July, 2008
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is confident of achieving a respectable rate of gross domestic product (GDP) growth, given the sustained performance of the domestic economy as the strong economic fundamentals, Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop (picture)said yesterday.
“Despite a weaker external environment, the Malaysian economy continues to maintain its steady growth momentum,” he said at the Perwaja Holdings Bhd’s prospectus launch here.
Last year, the economy grew by 6.3 percent, the biggest growth since 2004.
In the first quarter of this year, the economy expanded by 7.1 percent driven by robust domestic demand.
Nor Mohamed said the country’s inflationary expectations remained contained despite the recent increase in the prices of petrol and diesel which was likely to result in a one-off hike in inflation rate.
“This is on account that our inflation is driven by cost push rather than demand pressures, while capacity expansion and productivity increases will contribute towards containing inflationary pressures,” he said.
The government, he added, will also continue to intensify efforts at ensuring that the pass-through of global prices into domestic prices was somewhat mitigated.
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