KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia's economy contracted 17.1% on the year in the second quarter, the central bank announced on Friday, reflecting the dire impact of the coronavirus lockdown imposed through the three-month period.
This is Malaysia's worst performance on record and first quarterly decline since the third period of 2009, amid the global financial crisis. It marks a painful reversal compared with the 4.9% growth logged for the second quarter of 2019, and a steep drop-off after the country eked out 0.7% gross domestic product growth in the first three months of 2020.
