Economy of Malaysia

Economy of Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur, national capital of Malaysia, and its largest city
CurrencyRinggit (MYR, RM)
Calendar year
Trade organisations
APEC, ASEAN, IOR-ARC, WTO, JETRO, RCEP, CPTPP, EAS, AFTA
Country group
Statistics
PopulationIncrease 34,308,525 (2023)[3]
GDP
GDP rank
GDP growth
  • 3.7% (2023)
  • 4.4% (2024)
  • 4.4% (2025)[5]
GDP per capita
  • Increase $13,315 (nominal; 2024 est.)[4]
  • Increase $39,030 (PPP; 2024 est.)[4]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
1.8% (2024)[4]
Population below poverty line
  • 6.2% (2023)[7]
  • 2.11% on less than $6.85/day (2024)[8]
40.7 medium (2021)[9]
Labour force
  • Increase 17,150,000 (2024)[12]
  • 75.1% employment rate (2024)[13]
Labour force by occupation
UnemploymentPositive decrease 3.3% (2024)[4]
Main industries
Electronics, semiconductors, microchips, integrated circuits, rubber, oleochemicals, automotive, optical devices, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, smelting, timber, wood pulp, Islamic finance, petroleum, liquified natural gas, petrochemicals, telecommunication product
External
Exports$297.60 billion (2022 est.)[14]
Export goods
Semiconductor & electronic products, palm oil, liquefied natural gas, petroleum, chemicals, machinery, vehicles, optical & scientific equipment, manufactures of metal, rubber, wood and wood products
Main export partners
Imports$234 billion (2022 est.)[16]
Import goods
Electrical & electronic products, machinery, chemicals, petroleum, plastics, vehicles, manufactures of metal, iron and steel products
Main import partners
FDI stock
Increase $194 billion (2023 est.)[17]
Decrease $11.639 billion (2023 est.)[4]
Negative increase $273.9 billion (31 March 2022 est.)[7]
Public finances
Negative increase 66.909% of GDP (2023 est.)[4]
Positive decrease −4.690% (of GDP) (2023 est.)[4]
Revenues50.30 billion (2021 est.)[7]
Expenses75.67 billion (2021 est.)[7]
Economic aid$31.6 million (2005 est.)
Decrease US$110.1 billion (29 September 2023)[21]
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.


The economy of Malaysia is the fifth largest in Southeast Asia and the 36th largest in the world in terms of nominal GDP. When measured by purchasing power parity, its GDP climbs to the 30th largest. Malaysia is forecasted to have a nominal GDP nearly half a trillion US$ by the end of 2024. [22] The labour productivity of Malaysian workers is the third highest in ASEAN and significantly higher than Indonesia, Vietnam and The Philippines.[23] The 2021 Global Competitiveness Report ranked Malaysian economy the 25th most competitive country economy in the world.[24]

Malaysia is the 25th most export-intensive economy globally, higher than even Switzerland with total export activities exceeding 76% of its GDP. [25] In addition, Malaysian economy has developed vertical and horizontal integration across several export linked industry while capturing a significant global market share for manufactured products and commodities ranging from integrated circuit, semiconductor, palm oil to liquefied natural gas. Furthermore, Malaysia is an important nexus in the global semiconductor market and is the third largest exporter of semiconductor devices on the planet. [26] Malaysia has unveiled plan to target US$100 billion in investment for its semiconductor industry as it position itself as global semiconductor hub. [27]

By middle of year 2024, the country has successfully attracted large foreign direct investment centered on global artificial intelligence boom with foreign technology companies like Google, Microsoft and ByteDance flocked to the country and invested US$2 bilion, [28] US$2.2 bilion, [29] and US$2.1 bilion, [30] respectively, to capitalise on Malaysia competitive advantage in the data centre and hyperscale construction due to its highly educated workforce, cheap land acquisition, low water and electricity cost and most importantly absence of natural disasters. [31] This is expected to consolidate Malaysia position as a cloud computing hub for wider Asia, increasing its high value sector and propel its economy to meet the government high income economy goal.

Overall, the Malaysian economy is highly robust and diversified with the export value of high-tech products in 2022 standing around US$66 billion, the third highest in ASEAN.[32] Malaysia exports the second largest volume and value of palm oil products globally, after Indonesia.[33]

Malaysians enjoy a relatively affluent lifestyle compared to many of its neighbours in Southeast Asia. This is due to a fast-growing export-oriented economy, a relatively low national income tax, highly affordable local food and transport fuel, as well as a fully subsidized single-payer public healthcare system. Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, which is relatively open and state-oriented.[34][35]

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  2. ^ "World Bank Country and Lending Groups". datahelpdesk.worldbank.org. World Bank. Archived from the original on 28 October 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Population, total - Malaysia". Archived from the original on 9 June 2023. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2023". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Archived from the original on 21 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
  5. ^ "WORLD ECONOMIC OUTLOOK 2022 OCT Countering the Cost-of-Living Crisis". www.imf.org. International Monetary Fund. p. 43. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
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  7. ^ a b c d e "The World Factbook". CIA.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Poverty headcount ratio at $6.85 a day (2017 PPP) (% of population) - Malaysia". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Archived from the original on 12 June 2020. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  9. ^ "GINI index (World Bank estimate)". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Archived from the original on 12 January 2018. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Human Development Index (HDI)". hdr.undp.org. HDRO (Human Development Report Office) United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 19 March 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI)". hdr.undp.org. HDRO (Human Development Report Office) United Nations Development Programme. Archived from the original on 12 December 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Labor force, total - Malaysia". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  13. ^ "Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (%) (national estimate) - Malaysia". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
  14. ^ "Trade Performance 2021". Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  15. ^ a b "OEC - Malaysia trade". Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
  16. ^ "OEC - Malaysia (MYS) Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners". atlas.media.mit.edu. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
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  18. ^ "S&P revises Malaysia's outlook to stable from negative, expects 2022 GDP growth to hit 6.1%". Archived from the original on 16 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  19. ^ "Moody's Affirms Malaysia's Sovereign Credit Rating At 'A3'; Outlook Stable". 14 April 2023. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  20. ^ "Malaysia". Archived from the original on 26 June 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
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  22. ^ "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". IMF. Archived from the original on 21 May 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
  23. ^ "Regional Study on Labour Productivity in ASEAN" (PDF). The ASEAN Secretariat & Asian Productivity Organization. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
  24. ^ "The Global Competitiveness Report 2021". IMD World Competitiveness Center. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  25. ^ "Malaysia - Trade (% Of GDP)". data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  26. ^ "Semiconductor Devices". Observatory for Economics Complexity. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  27. ^ "Malaysia targets over $100 bln in semiconductor industry investment". reuters.com. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  28. ^ "Google to invest $2 billion in Malaysia and build data center to capture rising AI demand". www.cnbc.com. 30 May 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  29. ^ "Microsoft announces US$2.2 billion investment to fuel Malaysia's cloud and AI transformation". news.microsoft.com. 2 May 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  30. ^ "TikTok owner ByteDance to expand Malaysia data center footprint in $2.1bn AI deal". datacenterdynamics.com. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  31. ^ "Analyst: Malaysia a magnet for data centres due to low likelihood of natural disasters, cheap electricity and land". www.nst.com.my/business/corporate. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  32. ^ "High-technology exports (current US$)". data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  33. ^ "OEC - Palm Oil (HS92: 1511) Product Trade, Exporters and Importers". Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  34. ^ Boulton, WilliaM; Pecht, Michael; Tucker, William; Wennberg, Sam (May 1997). "Electronics Manufacturing in the Pacific Rim, World Technology Evaluation Center, Chapter 4: Malaysia". Wtec.org. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2010.
  35. ^ "Malaysia, A Statist Economy". Infernalramblings.com. Archived from the original on 7 October 2010. Retrieved 1 November 2010.

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