Economy Of Malaysia

Economy overview Malaysia, a middle-income country, transformed itself from 1971 through the late 1990s from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy. Growth was almost exclusively driven by exports - particularly of electronics. As a result Malaysia was hard hit by the global economic downturn and the slump in the information technology (IT) sector in 2001 and 2002. GDP in 2001 grew only 0.5% due to an estimated 11% contraction in exports, but a substantial fiscal stimulus package equal to US $1.9 billion mitigated the worst of the recession and the economy rebounded in 2002 with a 4.1% increase. The economy grew 4.9% in 2003, notwithstanding a difficult first half, when external pressures from SARS and the Iraq War led to caution in the business community. Healthy foreign exchange reserves and a relatively small external debt make it unlikely that Malaysia will experience a crisis similar to the one in 1997, but the economy remains vulnerable to a more protracted slowdown in Japan and the US, top export destinations and key sources of foreign investment. The Malaysian ringgit is pegged to the dollar, and the Japanese central bank continues to intervene and prop up the yen against the dollar.
 
GDP purchasing power parity - $207.8 billion (2004 est.)
 
GDP - real growth rate 5.2% (2004 est.)
 
GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $9,000 (2004 est.)
 
GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 7.3%
industry: 33.5%
services: 59.1% (2004 est.)
 
Investment gross fixed 22.2% of GDP (2004 est.)
 
Population below poverty line 8% (1998 est.)
 
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 1.4%
highest 10%: 39.2% (2003 est.)
 
Distribution of family income - Gini index 49.2 (1997)
 
Inflation rate consumer prices 1.1% (2004 est.)
 
Labor force 10.26 million (2004 est.)
 
Labor force by occupation agriculture 14.5%, industry 36%, services 49.5% (2000 est.)
 
Unemployment rate 3.6% (2004 est.)
 
Budget
revenues: $22.95 billion
expenditures: $27.75 billion, including capital expenditures of $9.4 billion (2004 est.)
 
Public debt 45.5% of GDP (2004 est.)
 
Agriculture products Peninsular Malaysia - rubber, palm oil, cocoa, rice; Sabah - subsistence crops, rubber, timber, coconuts, rice; Sarawak - rubber, pepper; timber
 
Industries Peninsular Malaysia - rubber and oil palm processing and manufacturing, light manufacturing industry, electronics, tin mining and smelting, logging and processing timber; Sabah - logging, petroleum production; Sarawak - agriculture processing, petroleum production and refining, logging
 
Industrial production growth rate 9.3% (2004 est.)
 
Electricity production 75.33 billion kWh (2002)
 
Electricity production by source
fossil fuel: 89.5%
hydro: 10.5%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
 
Electricity consumption 68.4 billion kWh (2002)
 
Electricity exports 0 kWh (2002)
 
Electricity imports 0 kWh (2002)
 
Oil production 690,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)
 
Oil consumption 460,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)
 
Oil exports 230,200 bbl/day (2003)
 
Oil imports NA (2003)
 
Oil proved reserves 3.729 billion bbl (2004)
 
Natural gas production 53.66 billion cu m (2001 est.)
 
Natural gas consumption 31.25 billion cu m (2001 est.)
 
Natural gas exports 22.41 billion cu m (2001 est.)
 
Natural gas imports 0 cu m (2001 est.)
 
Natural gas proved reserves 2.23 trillion cu m (2004)
 
Current account balance $13.38 billion (2004 est.)
 
Exports $98.4 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
 
Exports commodities electronic equipment, petroleum and liquefied natural gas, wood and wood products, palm oil, rubber, textiles, chemicals
 
Exports partners US 19.6%, Singapore 15.7%, Japan 10.7%, China 6.5%, Hong Kong 6.5%, Thailand 4.4% (2003)
 
Imports $74.4 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)
 
Imports commodities electronics, machinery, petroleum products, plastics, vehicles, iron and steel products, chemicals
 
Imports partners Japan 17.3%, US 15.5%, Singapore 11.9%, China 8.8%, South Korea 5.5%, Taiwan 5%, Germany 4.7%, Thailand 4.6% (2003)
 
Reserves of foreign exchange gold $44.58 billion (2004 est.)
 
Debt external $48.84 billion (2004 est.)
 
Economic aid recipient  
Currency ringgit (MYR)
 
Currency code MYR
 
Exchange rates ringgits per US dollar - 3.8 (2003), 3.8 (2002), 3.8 (2001), 3.8 (2000), 3.8 (1999)
 
Fiscal year calendar year

 

 

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This information was reproduced in part from the CIA World Fact book.

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