FILE PHOTO – Malaysia’s flag is seen at the landmark Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur March 5, 2008. REUTERS/Beawiharta/File Photo
May 2, 2020
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s economy in 2020 could shrink more than initially forecast due to extended curbs on movement imposed to stem an outbreak of the new coronavirus, the finance minister said on Saturday.
Malaysia’s central bank had forecast in April for growth in gross domestic product (GDP) of between -2% and 0.5% this year.
“But that forecast was made after just two weeks of movement curbs. We’re now more than five weeks in … so our GDP could shrink even more,” Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said in an interview with a local television channel.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Edmund Blair)
