SME Bank Projects Malaysia's Growth at 4.5%-5% for 2025
The Star | 12th March 2025
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s growth is projected to range between 4.5 per cent and 5.0 per cent, reflecting positive sentiment in the overall economy, according to the Small Medium Enterprise Development Bank Malaysia Bhd (SME Bank).
Its acting group president and chief executive officer, Datuk Mohammad Hardee Ibrahim said Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth accelerated to 5.1 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in 2024, which is well within the bank’s in-house estimate of 4.3-5.3 per cent.
"This was driven by stronger household spending and supported by favourable labour market conditions, robust investment, and recovery in external trade.
"Riding on the back of this positive momentum, we forecast Malaysia’s GDP for 2025 to register between 4.5 per cent and 5.0 per cent,” he said in a statement today.
As a leading development financial institution, the bank said it remains committed to supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a key pillar of Malaysia’s economy, adding that it has published its 2025 Economic Outlook Report, providing insights to help SMEs navigate the year ahead.
Commenting on Malaysia’s outlook, SME Bank’s chief economist Lynette Lee Li Qing said Malaysia’s GDP growth in 2025 is expected to be driven by expansion in the services sector, with increased support from consumer and business-related subsectors.
"Going forward, we remain cautiously optimistic on Malaysia’s overall growth performance in 2025 amid rising headwinds, mainly stemming from the external side such as slower GDP growth in key trading partners, potential escalation of the United States - China trade war and rising global protectionist policies, volatile geopolitical conflicts as well as lower than expected commodity production and prices,” she added.
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