KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Fitch Solutions said Tuesday it expects Malaysia's economic growth to slow significantly in 2023.
"While we expect the economy to return to growth over the coming quarters, we believe that the pace of economic expansion will moderate significantly going forward as credit conditions tighten further and pent-up demand fades," the research house said in a note.
The firm is maintaining its forecast for Malaysia's real gross domestic product (GDP) growth to slow to 4 percent in 2023, from 8.7 percent in 2022.
"Looking ahead, we expect the fading of base effects and pent-up demand, tighter credit conditions, and a weakening global growth outlook to pose significant growth headwinds," it said.
The Malaysian economy expanded by 7 percent year on year in the fourth quarter of 2022, according to the latest national account data released last week, slowing significantly from the growth rate of 14.2 percent in the third quarter of 2022.
The growth print came in above consensus and Fitch Solutions expectations, and brought the full year growth rate to 8.7 percent in 2022, versus Fitch Solutions' estimate of 8.4 percent. ■