Despite Malaysia Government's constant state of denial, the statistics couldn't lie!
Last Friday the GDP data announced for the fourth quarter of 2008 came up short of expectation....only a mere 0.1%. That is to say, Malaysia's economic growth had plummeted from the previous quarter's 4.7% to no growth in the last quarter!
It seems the RM7 billion (US$2billion) were not sufficient to save the economy (as expected), as a result of the larger than expected fall in exports.
The world is suffering from global recession and every country is now scrambling to revise growth outlook and desperately trying to stem the collapse through various stimulus packages.
In Malaysia's case, the Government is going to announce another stimulus package before mid March. Given it's timing (being announced in March and assuming implementation within 3 to 6 months), the effects on economy will mostly likely take place only thereafter. This could well imply that Malaysia could well be in recession in the first and second quarter of 2009!
It's regrettable that the Government took so long to realize the current miserable state and to come up with positive new measures to tackle the economic problems! Ironically, they certainly appear more interested to tackle the various political issues and to safeguard their own political agenda for the past one year up to this present moment!
