KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 23 -- Several economists and local industry representatives are confident that Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) growth will strengthen this year, despite easing in the final quarter of last year.

Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) Business School economic analyst associate professor Aimi Zulhazmi Abdul Rashid said the lower growth reported was not cause for panic.

He said Malaysia's Q4 GDP growth was in line with its Asean neighbours such as Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia that also reported sluggish growth for the same period.

"To boost the economy and to avoid the slow growth, the government would need to apply cash injection initiatives to immediately reduce income tax and corporate tax.

"This initiative c...