KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract by 5.2 per cent in the third quarter of 2020 (Q3 2020) due to strict movement restrictions that have dampened domestic consumption and fixed investments.

Moody’s Analytics Asia Pacific Economic Preview noted that the country’s GDP contracted by 17.1 per cent in Q2 2020, and Malaysia’s economy and external position were also affected by the large scale shut down across major economies.

However, its economist, Shahana Mukherjee said that since then, overseas demand has picked up along with domestic spending as the localised outbreak is brought under control.

"These factors are expected to have revived domestic income in the September quarter,” she said in a research note today.

Moody’s Analytics said regionally, Indonesia’s Q3 GDP contracted by 3.5 per cent compared with a decline of 5.3 per cent in the previous quarter, hence, the country has slipped into a recession for the first time since the Asian financial crisis in 1998.

The Phillipines’ GDP is also likely to contract by six per cent in Q3 following a decline of 16.5 per cent in the previous quarter, as the strict lockdown weighed heavily on the country’s domestic investment and consumption, while export plunged by 40 per cent. — Bernama