KUALA LUMPUR, May 11 (Reuters) - Malaysia’s economy contracted in the first quarter, but far less than the last quarter of 2020, as domestic spending improved along with external demand in spite of a spike in coronavirus cases, the central bank said on Tuesday. The economy shrank 0.5% over January-March from a year earlier, down for a fourth straight quarter but better than the 1.9% contraction forecast in a Reuters poll. GDP contracted 3.4% in the fourth quarter. “We expect GDP growth to remain within the projected 6%-7.5% this year,” Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus told a virtual news conference. Reporting by Joseph Sipalan; Editing by Jacqueline Wong Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.