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 - and, as a result Malaysia was hard hit by the global economic downturn and the slump in the Information Technology (IT) sector in 2001. GDP in 2001 grew only 0.5% due to an estimated 11% contraction in exports, but a substantial fiscal stimulus package mitigated the worst of the recession and the economy rebounded in 2002. Healthy foreign exchange reserves and 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.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $210 billion (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
4.2% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $9,300 (2002 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 12%
industry: 40%
services: 48% (2001)
Population below poverty line:
8% (1998 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 1.7%
highest 10%: 38.4% (1997 est.)
Distribution of family income - Gini index:
49.2 (1997)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.9% (2002 est.)
Labor force:
9.9 million (2001 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
local trade and tourism 28%, manufacturing 27%, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries 16%, services 10%, government 10%, construction 9% (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate:
3.8% (2002 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $20.3 billion
expenditures: $27.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $9.4 billion (2001 est.)
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:
5% (2002 est.)
Electricity - production:
68.34 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 89.5%
hydro: 10.5%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
63.48 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
75 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
729,200 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
472,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA
Oil - imports:
NA
Oil - proved reserves:
3.729 billion bbl (January 2002 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves:
2.23 trillion cu m (January 2002 est.)
Agriculture - products:
Peninsular Malaysia - rubber, palm oil, cocoa, rice; Sabah - subsistence crops, rubber, timber, coconuts, rice; Sarawak - rubber, pepper; timber
Exports:
$95.2 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
electronic equipment, petroleum and liquefied natural gas, wood and wood products, palm oil, rubber, textiles, chemicals (2000)
Exports - partners:
US 22.2%, Singapore 18.7%, Japan 10.7%, Hong Kong 4.8%, China 4.7%, Taiwan 3.8% (2002)
Imports:
$76.8 billion f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
electronics, machinery, petroleum products, plastics, vehicles, iron and steel products, chemicals (2000)
Imports - partners:
Singapore 21.7%, Japan 15.5%, US 14.4%, China 6.0%, Taiwan 4.6%, Thailand 3.7% (2002)
Debt - external:
$47.5 billion (2002 est.)
Currency:
ringgit (MYR)
Currency code:
MYR
Exchange rates:
ringgits per US dollar - 3.8 (2002), 3.8 (2001), 3.8 (2000), 3.8 (1999), 3.9244 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
NOTE: The information regarding Malaysia on this page is re-published from the 2003 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Guinea Geography 2003 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Malaysia Economy 2003 should be addressed to the CIA.
