PUTRAJAYA, May 22 — Gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the first quarter this year, to be announced tomorrow, is expected to be around 4-5 per cent, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

“For the first quarter we did quite well and the results should be within the rate of 4-5 per cent,” he said after presenting excellent service awards to 250 employees of the Statistics Department at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre here today.

Nor Yakcop said data collected over several months also suggest positive results for the second quarter.

However, he said, the current economic crisis in Europe was a bit worrying and could have an impact on Malaysia’s economic growth.

“It is important for us to sustain our momentum, our internal strength is still high despite the uncertain external environment,” he said.

“We have faced challenging situations before, so we are confident we can face the current challenge.” — Bernama