By ALIFAH ZAINUDDIN

The World Bank has deemed the worst of the global economic slowdown over, as 2017 is anticipated to be a better year.

World Bank Group senior country economist for Malaysia Dr Rafael Munoz Moreno said that the “worst of the global economic slowdown is behind us”.

“For the first time in many quarters, we saw an upgrade to our revision rather than a downgrade, and this is really good,” Moreno said in his presentation at the World Bank’s biannual Malaysia Economic Monitor (MEM) conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

As part of the effort for Malaysia to achieve accelerated growth target in 2017 while uplifting the country to high- income status, the World Bank has also called for more reliable and open data access.

Following a strong first performance of a 5.6% real gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the first-quarter, the World Bank also revised the country’s growth projection for the year to 4.9% from a 4.4% fore- cast in April earlier this year — higher than the government’s 4.3%-4.8% estimate.

The World Bank revealed that the improved outlook is largely driven by strong private consumption and supported by improving labour market conditions.

The increasing private investments and major government-led infrastructure projects had also contributed to the upgrade.

Additionally, the rise in external demand as a result of an upturn in the US, along with the stabilisation of global commodity prices and a recovery in global trade, will further boost growth.

The latest MEM report — themed “Data for Development” — focused on the need for quality data and effective data management to boost the country’s productivity and allow the government to make informed decisions in policy-making.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan said the demand for statistics has changed exponentially, with more refined data needed for the country to develop.

“I would prefer to have data at the district level, local statistics. Wouldn’t it be interesting to start talking about unemployment rate in your own district rather than talk about the national unemployment rate?

“Since district governments also have the capacity to amend laws at that level, surely they would need relevant data to formulate policies more precisely, so I’m very excited,” Abdul Rahman told reporters after launching the report.

On whether the government is willing to make data available to the public, he said the benefit of sharing the data far outweighs the risks.

“There are some concerns on privacy and security, but I think those areas can be tackled by the government. The government must feel comfortable in sharing these data,” he said.

Abdul Rahman added that Putrajaya has initiated several structural reforms under the 11th Malaysia Plan (11MP) with an emphasis on productivity as one of the game changers that will sustain the country’s growing economy over the long term.

Abdul Rahman said a nine-sector productivity nexus will be established to support enterprises on the ground, who are “the tip of the spear” in productivity improvement.

“I am confident that with firm commitment and support from all sides, we will be able to almost double our labour productivity growth as targeted in the 11MP,” he said.