Malaysia on the brink of recession due to coronavirus

• The Malaysian economy could shrink by as much as 2 percent or grow 0.5pc this year due to the coronavirus pandemic economic toll.
• Malaysia’s GDP grew 4.3pc in 2019, the lowest since the global financial crisis.

As the Coronavirus pandemic continues to cause major disruptions leaving millions jobless and bringing economic activity to a standstill, the central bank of Malaysia has warned that the country could enter into a recession.

The Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the central bank of Malaysia has said that the economy could shrink by as much as 2 percent or grow 0.5pc this year due to the coronavirus pandemic economic toll, in what would be the country's worst economic performance in more than a decade.

“We project Malaysia’s GDP for 2020 to be between 0.5% and -2%. In the first half of this year (1H20), spillovers from the global slowdown and our pandemic containment measures will result in large output losses,” BNM governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus said in a virtual press conference, quoted The Malaysian Reserve.

“This will take a toll on the economy, but it is necessary to keep the pandemic at bay. At the end of the day, the preservation of life is paramount,” she said.

Malaysia’s GDP grew 4.3pc in 2019, the lowest since the global financial crisis, mainly due to commodity supply shocks and slow public investment activity. The country has reported the highest number of reported coronavirus infections in Southeast Asia with more than 3,100 cases and 50 deaths and has put on month-long restrictions on travel and non-essential business that have hit trade and tourism.

Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy last reported economic growth below zero in 2009 due to the global financial crisis.