Malaysia officially in technical recession, says Najib

A technical recession refers to when a country experiences a decline in its gross domestic product (GDP) for two consecutive quarters.

Najib said Malaysia was the only country among regional neighbours that reported a contraction in economic growth for two quarters in a row.

Indonesias economy grew by 3.5%, Singapore by 6.5% and the Philippines by 7.1%, while Thailand experienced a slight decline of 0.3%. In comparison, Malaysia recorded a negative growth of 4.5%, he said.

Najib attributed it to Malaysia being alone among countries in the world to have declared a state of emergency to suspend Parliament as an excuse to combat Covid-19.

“But actually, they wanted to remain in power,” he said, referring to the previous Perikatan Nasional government led by Muhyiddin Yassin.

“The Emergency was imposed, RM600 billion of the nation‘s money was spent and one of the longest half-baked lockdowns was imposed, devastating the people’s economy and small businesses,” he said.

Despite that, Malaysia had among the highest rates of Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths in the region and globally.

“The prices of goods also increased exponentially due to the half-baked lockdown, something that even Lim Guan Eng understands,” he said, citing a recent statement by the former finance minister on the rise in food prices.