(AFP) - Malaysia is already feeling the effect of the US economic slowdown and the first-quarter growth figure may be less than hoped, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said today.

He was quoted by Bernama news agency, which gave no further details.

Last month Malaysia lowered its gross domestic product growth forecast for this year to between five and six percent, from seven percent previously, amid an expected sharp fall in manufacturing.

Economists are less sanguine, predicting about 4.5 percent growth compared to 8.5 percent last year.

Last month Mahathir also unveiled a three-billion-ringgit supplementary budget to shore up the economy.

Almost 21 percent of all Malaysia's exports go to the United States, making it vulnerable to the slowdown there.

In a separate statement today the Statistics Department said manufacturing sales in February were worth RM26.3 billion, up 12.4 percent from a year earlier and up 1.2 percent from a month earlier.

It said the total employed in the sector fell 0.3 percent month-on-month.