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Economy Overview (Extracted directly from the CIA Factbook 2008)
Malaysia, a middle-income country, has transformed itself since the 1970s from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy. Since coming to office in 2003, Prime Minister ABDULLAH has tried to move the economy farther up the value-added production chain by attracting investments in high technology industries, medical technology, and pharmaceuticals. The Government of Malaysia is continuing efforts to boost domestic demand to wean the economy off of its dependence on exports. Nevertheless, exports - particularly of electronics - remain a significant driver of the economy. As an oil and gas exporter, Malaysia has profited from higher world energy prices, although the rising cost of domestic gasoline and diesel fuel forced Kuala Lumpur to reduce government subsidies. Malaysia "unpegged" the ringgit from the US dollar in 2005 and the currency appreciated 6% per year against the dollar in 2006-08. Although this has helped to hold down the price of imports, inflationary pressures began to build in 2007 - in 2008 inflation stood at nearly 6%, year-over-year. The government presented its five-year national development agenda in April 2006 through the Ninth Malaysia Plan, a comprehensive blueprint for the allocation of the national budget from 2006-10. ABDULLAH has unveiled a series of ambitious development schemes for several regions that have had trouble attracting business investment. Real GDP growth has averaged about 6% per year under ABDULLAH, but regions outside of Kuala Lumpur and the manufacturing hub Penang have not fared as well. The central bank maintains healthy foreign exchange reserves and the regulatory regime has limited Malaysia's exposure to riskier financial instruments and the global financial crises. Decreasing worldwide demand for consumer goods is expected to hurt economic growth, however.
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity) (2008 estimate)
USD 397.5 billion
GDP - Real Growth Rate (2008 estimate)
5.5%
GDP - per capita (2008 estimate)
USD 15,700
GDP - Composition by Sector
Agriculture: 9.7%
Industry: 44.6%
Services: 45.7%
Labor force
11.2 million
Labor force - by Occupation (2005 estimate)
Agriculture: 13%
Industry: 36%
Services: 51%
Unemployment rate
3.7%
Inflation rate (consumer prices)
5.8%
Approximately 30% of goods are price-controlled.
Agriculture products
Rubber
Palm Oil
Timber
Cocoa
Rice
Rubber
Coconuts
Pepper
Subsistence crops
Industries
Rubber and oil palm processing and manufacturing
Manufacturing
Electronics
Tin mining and smelting
Logging
Timber processing
Petroleum production
Agriculture processing
Refining
Industrial production growth rate
4%
Exports
USD 195.7 billion f.o.b.
Exports (Commodities)
Electronic equipment
Petroleum and liquefied Natural Gas
Wood and wood products
Palm Oil
Rubber
Textiles
Chemicals
Exports partners (2007)
US 15.6%
Singapore 14.6%
Japan 9.1%
China 8.8%
Thailand 5%
Hong Kong 4.6%
Imports
USD 156.2 billion f.o.b.
Imports (Commodities)
Electronics
Machinery
Petroleum products
Plastics
Vehicles
Iron and steel products
Chemicals
Imports partners
Japan 13%
China 12.9%
Singapore 11.5%
US 10.8%
Taiwan 5.7%
Thailand 5.3%
South Korea 4.9%
Germany 4.6%
Indonesia 4.2%
Oil production
753,700 bbl/day
Oil consumption
501,100 bbl/day
Oil exports (2005)
546,300 bbl/day
Oil imports (2005)
308,500 bbl/day
Oil reserves
4 billion bbl (January 2008 estimate)
Natural gas production
64.5 billion cu m
Natural gas consumption
32.9 billion cu m
Natural gas exports
31.6 billion cu m
Natural gas imports
0 cu m
Natural gas proved reserves
2.35 trillion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold (December 2008 estimate)
USD 104.4 billion
External Debt(31 December 2008 estimate)
USD 54.11 billion
Source: CIA Factbook 2008, 2009
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