Fitch Solutions: Consumer spending in Malaysia to post good growth over 2022

• Jan 12, 2022

SINGAPORE (Jan 12): Consumer spending in Malaysia will post good growth in 2022, with real household spending projected to grow 5.1% year-on-year (y-o-y), according to a UK-based research firm.

“This is a notable improvement from the 0.5% growth estimated for 2021, as impacts from Covid-19 continued to weigh on domestic demand,” said Fitch Solutions Country Risk and Industry Research in a statement on Wednesday (Jan 12).

The research house said the recovery in consumer spending over 2022 will come as the wider economy recovers, with growth mainly driven by private consumption and fixed investments.

“At RM768.1 billion over 2022, real household spending will be 1.8% higher than the RM754.6 billion posted in 2019, pre-Covid-19,” it said.

Fitch Solutions said its consumer spending forecast is in line with its Country Risk team’s view that the wider economy is expected to grow by 5.5% over 2022.

It noted that the country’s unemployment rate will begin to soften over 2022, dropping to an average of 3.9% of the labour force from 4.7% in 2021.

Source: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/fitch-solutions-consumer-spending-malaysia-post-good-growth-over-2022