(AFP) Malaysia's economic growth will stay subdued in the second quarter because of the US slowdown, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

Mahathir said gross domestic product (GDP) growth would be similar to the first quarter, which registered 3.2 percent year-on-year.

The premier said the US slowdown had not only affected Malaysia's trade with its biggest single export market but also trade with other countries.

"So we can regard the US economy as a kind of locomotive for growth," Mahathir was quoteby Bernama news agency.

"And when it slows down, other countries are affected and in turn those countries affect us also."

Bank Negara governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, announcing the first-quarter growth figure in May, predicted a pick-up in the second half of this year.

She maintained the official growth forecast for this year of five to six percent, compared to 8.5 percent last year.

Rookie minister

Private economists are less sanguine, forecasting less than four percent for the full year.

Almost 21 percent of all Malaysia's exports go to the United States.

Mahathir is also acting finance minister following the unexplained resignation of Daim Zainuddin on June 1.

Asked about a proposed sovereign bond issue, the premier joked: "I think it is better for you to ask those who know about it.

"I am not very clever about this thing. I am a very new kid, rookie minister of finance."