KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 — Malaysia is inching closer to regaining its lead over Singapore’s economy after trailing for a third straight year.

The nation’s gross domestic product was US$314.5 billion (RM1.27 trillion) in 2017, about US$9.4 billion (RM38 billion) less than Singapore’s US$323.9 billion, according to data from the World Bank.

That deficit is set to shrink to just over US$2 billion next year as forecasts see Malaysia’s economy expanding by about 5.5 per cent in 2018 versus a 3.1 per cent increase in Singapore, according to median estimates of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. — Bloomberg