Malaysia’s business sentiments for the near term turned pessimistic as the confidence indicator decreased to minus 3.1 percent in the second quarter of 2023 from a growth of 3.6 percent in the last quarter, official data showed Wednesday. This expectation is in line with global economic slowdown amid persistent challenges including inflationary pressures, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement. Three sectors namely construction, wholesale & retail trade and industry anticipate challenging business conditions in the second quarter. The construction sector’s business confidence remained negative, with the confidence indicator recorded at minus 26.9 percent in the reference quarter. — Xinhua
