KUALA LUMPUR: Despite economic recovery in several economies and signs of improvements in preliminary data, Bank Negara Malaysia governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said it is too early to revise the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
She said while it is too early to tell when the country could see positive growth the earliest, she reiterated Malaysia would post a positive GDP growth by the fourth quarter of 2009 (4Q09).
"We have the early numbers that show clear signs of improvement but it is too early to tell when we will see positive growth or which quarter. But definitely by the fourth quarter (4Q), we will see positive growth," Zeti told reporters after the launch of the syariah-compliant Commodity Trading Platform in Kuala Lumpur.
The country's 2Q09 GDP is scheduled for release next Wednesday. Some of the world's leading economies, namely France, Germany and Japan, posted a positive GDP growth in 2Q09.
AmResearch in a note last week expects Malaysia's economy to contract by 5% in 2Q09 and 2.4% in 3Q09.
In May, the official GDP forecast was revised to between -4% and -5% from the earlier estimates of 1% and -1%, after Malaysia's economy shrank by 6.2% in the first three months of the year.
Some economists believe that export-dependent Malaysia has seen the worst of exports decline after posting a 22.6% contraction in June, which was better than the consensus of 25%, based on Bloomberg's survey.
On a separate matter, Zeti said the country's foreign exchange rate is determined mainly by the market.
Therefore, she added, from time to time, the ringgit would strengthen, and at times when there are outflows, it would weaken.
"But generally it is stable with other currencies in the region," she added.
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