Malaysia Economy 2008

Economy - overview:
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. Kuala Lumpur is also trying to boost domestic demand to wean the economy off of its dependence on exports. Nevertheless, exports - particularly of electronics - continue to drive 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 2006-07. Although this has helped to hold down the price of imports, inflationary pressures began to build in 2007. Healthy foreign exchange reserves and a small external debt greatly reduce the risk that Malaysia will experience a financial crisis over the near term similar to the one in 1997. 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. With national elections expected within the year, 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.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$357.9 billion (2007 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$143.1 billion (2007 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
5.7% (2007 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$14,400 (2007 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 8.6%
industry: 47.8%
services: 43.6% (2007 est.)

Labor force:
10.91 million (2007 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture: 13%
industry: 36%
services: 51% (2005 est.)

Unemployment rate:
3.1% (2007 est.)

Population below poverty line:
5.1% (2002 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.4%
highest 10%: 39.2% (2003 est.)

Distribution of family income - Gini index:
46.1 (2002)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
2.1% (2007 est.)

Investment (gross fixed):
20.2% of GDP (2007 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $41.01 billion
expenditures: $46.96 billion (2007 est.)

Public debt:
41% of GDP (2007 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, electronics, tin mining and smelting, logging, timber processing; Sabah - logging, petroleum production; Sarawak - agriculture processing, petroleum production and refining, logging

Industrial production growth rate:
2.6% (2007 est.)

Electricity - production:
82.36 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - consumption:
78.72 billion kWh (2005)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2005)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2005)

Oil - production:
751,800 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - consumption:
501,000 bbl/day (2005 est.)

Oil - exports:
611,200 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - imports:
278,600 bbl/day (2004)

Oil - proved reserves:
3 billion bbl (1 January 2006 est.)

natural gas - production:
60.9 billion cu m (2005 est.)

natural gas - consumption:
31.84 billion cu m (2005 est.)

natural gas - exports:
29.06 billion cu m (2005 est.)

natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2005)

natural gas - proved reserves:
2.037 trillion cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

Current account balance:
$25.93 billion (2007 est.)

Exports:
$169.9 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Exports - commodities:
electronic equipment, petroleum and liquefied natural gas, wood and wood products, palm oil, rubber, textiles, chemicals

Exports - partners:
US 18.8%, Singapore 15.4%, Japan 8.9%, China 7.2%, Thailand 5.3%, Hong Kong 4.9% (2006)

Imports:
$132.7 billion f.o.b. (2007 est.)

Imports - partners:
Japan 13.3%, US 12.6%, China 12.2%, Singapore 11.7%, Thailand 5.5%, Taiwan 5.5%, South Korea 5.4%, Germany 4.4% (2006)

Economic aid - recipient:
$31.6 million (2005)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
$104.8 billion (31 December 2007 est.)

Debt - external:
$57.83 billion (30 June 2007)

Stock of direct foreign investment - at home:
$77.7 billion (2006 est.)

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:
$34.42 billion (2006 est.)

Market value of publicly traded shares:
$235.4 billion (2006)

Currency (code):
ringgit (MYR)

Exchange rates:
ringgits per US dollar - 3.46 (2007), 3.6683 (2006), 3.8 (2005), 3.8 (2004), 3.8 (2003)