Tag: GDP

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Economics

[2461] The unexpected 5.8% growth

The GDP growth number for Malaysia shown on the Bloomberg machine surprised me. I had expected somewhere between 4.0% and 5.0%.

Trade numbers had been very good for the fast few months but I did not expect it to push the GDP growth figure close to 6%. In fact, I watched in awe the growth of the trade numbers given the current confusing state of the world’s economy.

For the GDP figures themselves, the year-on-year growth for the third quarter was 5.8%. The average growth expected by economists listed on Bloomberg was 4.8%. This number had progressively grown over the past months from a number close to 4.0% to what it is now.

Looking at the numbers sweepingly and superficially, government spending grew the largest percentage wise. It grew close to 22%. In terms of absolute value, consumption grew the largest and indeed, it was the main contributor to most of the GDP growth.

I am tempted to say the consumption growth was related to government spending (since the separation between government and the private sector is not so clear cut) but without the energy to mine for that, I will refrain from making more courageous statement.

But what exactly is the driver behind the consumption? In my head, I can only think of government. If I want to know more, I clearly need to dig deeper into the numbers.

Was the growth due to base effect? I do not believe so. Base effect is not a convincing case in post-recovery period. Year 2010 had been a year of normalization and year 2011 grew from a somewhat normalized base. So, I am discounting base effect from explaining the unexpected high growth rate.

Categories
Economics

[2425] I don’t think the second half will be stellar

There is an expectation that the second half of the year will boost the annual GDP growth for Malaysia to make up for the relatively weak first half. That was a reasonable expectation to have in the first half of the year but with only less than four weeks to go before the final quarter of 2011 is here, it is becoming increasingly untenable.

The basis for the optimistic second half expectation has been the planned construction boom as a result from the Najib administration’s Economic Transformation Program. A friend told me that it is to rival the construction boom of the 1990s.

From casual observation, there is a slow start to the boom. If the casual observation proves correct, the boom may yet pick up full steam in the fourth quarter but I doubt the fourth quarter alone will be sufficient to bring respectability to the whole year growth number, at which I define respectability as at least meeting the minimum target of 5% set by the Najib administration.

When the boom actually begins, there will be a question of lag. The economic expansion arising from multiplier effect will be even slower to hasten growth, adding to the issue of lag. Even if the boom had actually begun, the length of the lag is unclear and it is possible that the lag is still ongoing. It is hard to know this conclusively before November, when the actual third quarter result of the Malaysian real GDP will be released.

There are question marks on both domestic and foreign demands. Foreign demand on domestic goods is substantial. It is so substantial that I have made the case that the Malaysian recession and the subsequent recovery has been primarily caused by the global economy before.

The global economy is not doing so well at the moment. If there was a global central planner, then that planner had yet to make up his mind whether to grow or contract the world’s economy. There have been renewed talks of a double dip but truly without projecting the future, I think current statistics are giving confusing signal at the moment. Some statistics are performing worse than before and expectation. Others are doing better.

I myself have done some rudimentary forecasts for the Malaysian real GDP. It ranges from 4.60% to 5.15%. Okay, those are the only two rough forecasts that I have calculated through two slightly different but still simple methods. There is much work to be done to improve the model and I am not very satisfied with it. It does give me a general view nevertheless.

Categories
Economics

[2351] PEMANDU’s GDP folly

The Najib administration intends to make Malaysia a high-income country and that alone with the end goal. Here is the problem: a project is supported not because it is viable, but because it increases the gross domestic product (GDP) — or the gross national income (GNI) depending on context — of the country.

The latest case in point is the 1Malaysia email, which the PM has said that it will increase the GNI by RM39 million… by 2015.[1]

Let me say that this is mindless. It is so because while it does increase the GDP, it will increase it only temporarily. Without viability, it cannot sustain economic growth and make permanent a state of high-income. The focus on the GDP is as good as a project producing a million toilet bowls just because it increases production and hence the GDP, never mind that there is no requirement them.

One commits to a project because there is a need or demand for it. It should not be done just for the sake of increasing the GDP and the GNI. These statistics are not financial statistics. They are macroeconomic statistics for good reasons. Do it for the sake of increasing the GDP frequent enough and soon business failures will be the norms. Given that the government is at the center of it, so too will be the events of bailout.

The GDP and the GNI are descriptive statistics, not prescriptive statistics like the way PEMANDU is using it. These macro statistics are descriptive because only organic growth are sustainable. Once one makes these macro statistics prescriptive, then we will get the nonsense like “a particular project contribute to the GNI by so and so ringgit.” We will get PEMANDU.

Financial statistics can be used prescriptively to ensure viability of a project. Macroeconomic statistics mostly do no such thing. The GDP, for instance, measures what have been spent and says nothing whether a project should be invested in or not. Dig a hole for RM50 million and fill it again for another RM50 million, then the GDP will increase by at least RM100 million. The question whether that action is productive cannot be known through the GDP.

All the more outrageous is that the 1Malaysia email project is projected to contribute RM39 million by 2015 to the GNI. Ladies and gentlemen, the GDP of Malaysia for last year was more than RM600 billion. That is RM600,000 million, just in case the contexts of million and billion need clarification. The GDP numbers are so big that they are usually rounded up to the nearest billion. RM39 million will not typically register in any general statistics.

Yet, the 1Malaysia email project’s celebrated point is its contribution to the GDP.

That is a good joke.

My suggestion is this: take out the reference to individual projects’ contribution to the GDP.

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[1] — This is followed by the RM250 million investment by Pensonic Holdings Bhd to build its manufacturing hub and international distribution network over 10 years. The project will see a GNI impact of about RM500 million and create 850 new jobs by 2020.

The third project comes under the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management (Mampu), which will invest RM3.26 million to improve the electronic services provided by the government and is expected to create 155 jobs.

The fourth project will come under the communications content and infrastructure national key economic area. It involves Tricubes Bhd, which will invest RM50 million, to develop a web portal for all Malaysian citizens above the age of 18 by 2020.

The 1Malaysia email project is expected to contribute RM39 million in GNI by 2015. [7 new ETP projects with RM901m in investments. Roziana Hamsawi. Zaidi Isham Ismail. Business Times. April 20 2011]

Categories
Economics

[2172] Of did we need the stimulus package?

The fourth quarter of 2009 saw Malaysian economy recorded strong recovery on year-on-year basis.[1] So strong it was that the monetary authority of Malaysia went for a rate hike, making Malaysia the second country after Australia to adopt a hawkish monetary policy.[2] The question that should be asked now is, did we need the big stimulus?

The question is particularly relevant because the main driver of recovery has been external demand. This is something I have been stressing from the very beginning and it is the thrust of my opposition to economic stimulus, especially in the fashion of fiscal expansion, given the effect of the expansion on fiscal deficit, effect on future taxpayers as well as its potential adverse effect on private borrowers and therefore the economy sans the public sector.

Growth for external demand for domestic goods almost doubled the growth of domestic demand for goods.[3][4] Add the fact that external demand makes up a very large part of Malaysian GDP, in fact approximately 100% in terms of exports-to-GDP ratio,[5] the stimulus seems unnecessary.

Without the stimulus, recovery might have been less impressive than what was registered recently; it would be a recovery nonetheless. This however assumes that the government spending has no affect on interest rate and thus, the exchange rate. This is possible if the monetary authority, which is the Bank Negara, colludes with the executive branch of the government.

But expansion of fiscal policy does affect interest rate and the exchange rate assuming independence of the monetary authority, at least within the typical IS-LM model under open economy.

With that model with that particular settings, recovery without stimulus could have been just as impressive. If the extraordinary fiscal expansion were absent — the factor inhibiting exports that is higher exchange rate due to fiscal expansion would be absent — external demand for domestic goods could have increased much more than the already impressive level we saw at the end of 2009.

Remember, a lot of people were pleasantly surprised by the fourth quarter growth.

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[1] — Malaysia’s economy expanded 4.5 percent in the final three months of 2009 from a year earlier, Prime Minister Najib Razak said yesterday. Economists expected a 3.2 percent expansion, a Bloomberg survey showed. Gross domestic product fell in the preceding three quarters as exports slumped amid the global financial crisis. [Malaysia May Beat Korea, India to Asia Rate Increase. David Yong. Bloomberg. February 25 2010]

[2] — March 3 (Bloomberg) — Malaysia may be the next Asian country to pull back monetary stimulus as its recovery strengthens, moving to raise borrowing costs or reduce excess cash in the economy ahead of neighboring Indonesia. [Malaysia May Pull Monetary Stimulus Before Indonesia . Shamim. David Yong. Bloomberg. March 3 2010]

[3] — The external sector performed favourably with both Exports and Imports turned over by 7.3 per cent and 6.9 per cent respectively. The improved demand for the products of Electrical & Electronics, Animal & Vegetables Oils & Fats and Chemicals have contributed to the increase in Exports. Meanwhile, the growth in Imports was due to the higher demand for intermediate goods and capital goods. [National Product and Expenditure Accounts Fourth Quarter 2009. Department of Statistics of Malaysia. February 24 2010]

[4] — Malaysia’s real GDP, population 29,992,577 in 2008 according to the World Bank, grew 4.5% compared to the same period one year ago. The impetus behind headline number was domestic demand (GDP minus net exports), +3.9% Y/Y and external demand (exports), +7,3%. [A tale of two recoveries: Malaysia vs. Germany. Rebecca Wilder. News N Economics. February 25 2010]

[5] — See trade profile of Malaysia at World Trade Organization. Accessed March 5 2010.

Categories
Economics

[2068] Of o stimulus, where art thou?

Apparently, the second quarter GDP results came out way better than expected.

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) — Malaysia’s economy is expected to resume growth this year after slipping into its first recession in a decade last quarter, mirroring recoveries across Asia.

Gross domestic product shrank a less-than-expected 3.9 percent in the three months ended June from a year earlier, after a 6.2 percent contraction in the first quarter, the central bank said yesterday. Economists, who were expecting a 5 percent decline, are raising their GDP forecasts for Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy.

Asian economies are reporting better second-quarter GDP numbers as the global slowdown eases after fiscal and monetary stimulus around the world. Malaysian central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said yesterday that the government will revise its GDP forecast for a 5 percent contraction this year in the budget to reflect the nation’s economic improvement. [Malaysia’s Economy May Resume Growth This Year on Higher Demand. Shamin Adam. Bloomberg. August 27 2009]

Now, first of all, this dismisses concerns from some quarters that there was a need for a third stimulus package. These alarmists should be shot. No, I am not kidding. I really mean shot. I almost had a heart attack when I read about the suggestion months ago.

Secondly, we will only notice the stimulus money in full action only after recovery has taken place. I have taken this position from early one and I am being proven right. In fact, signs for recovery began as early as February, way before any stimulus has any impact. Since February, various indicators have shown general improvement independent of stimulus.[0A] The good news is that exports also improved;[0B] I have also maintained that recovery will be export-driven.

The official line is that the stimulus package helped cushion the fall. It may help by a tiny bit but changes in exports is more significant than increase in public spending, which more or less. a proxy of the stimulus package. Imports too went up but it is unclear if it was due to domestic consumption or instead, correspond to the increase in exports. Given that the make-up of the economy is that many of imported goods are intermediary goods which are used for exports, I am more inclined to favor the exports answer.

On top of that, in contrary to the celebrated increase in private consumption as announced by the Governor, in real terms, it fell to further gives credence to the exports explanation.

The same could be said about the increase in for capital formation. It is probably due to increased exports more than it could be about stimulus spending.

Furthermore, it appears that Malaysia may not have any need for a stimulus in the first place, or at the very least, the kind of outrageous size that we saw earlier. Proponents of stimulus, especially ones who advocated greater government spending as the base of that stimulus, were merely panicking more than anything else when they decided to unveil a large stimulus package, as I have accused them of.

As an aside, the much hyped Rangsangan Ekonomi website[1] which was announced as a site to make the stimulus spending transparent is especially a great cheat. For the second stimulus, it does not give actual progress. Rather, it only gives distribution of money. The whole thing is a big fat lie.

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[0A] — See The Coincident, Leading and Lagging Indicators, and Growth Rates, 2005-2009 table by the Department of Statistics.

[0B] — See Gross National Income (GNI) by Expenditure Components in Constant Prices (2000=100) and Current Prices table by the Bank Negara Malaysia.

[1] — To see it, go to http://www.rangsanganekonomi.treasury.gov.my/. Information for the first stimulus package however is respectably shared, unlike the second and much larger one. Accessed on August 27 2009.

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p/s — I am delighted to discover that the BNM website has been upgraded. Kudos to BNM.