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 is 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 0.3% due to an estimated 11% contraction in exports, but a substantial fiscal stimulus package has mitigated the worst of the recession and the economy is expected to grow by 2% to 3% in 2002 as the world economy rebounds. Kuala Lumpur's healthy foreign exchange reserves and relatively small external debt make it unlikely that Malaysia will experience a crisis similar to the crisis of 1997, but the economy remains vulnerable to a more protracted downturn in the US and Japan, top export destinations and key sources of foreign investment.

GDP purchasing power parity - $200 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 0.3% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $9,000 (2001 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) 1.5% (2001 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 3.7% (2001 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 -4% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production 63.069 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 87.96%
hydro: 12.04%
other: 0% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 58.59 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 75 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 11 million kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products Peninsular Malaysia - rubber, palm oil, cocoa, rice; Sabah - subsistence crops, rubber, timber, coconuts, rice; Sarawak - rubber, pepper; timber

Exports $94.4 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

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

Exports - partners US 20%, Singapore 17%, Japan 14%, Hong Kong 4.5%, Netherlands 4.5%, China 4%, Thailand 4% (2001 est.)

Imports $76.9 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Imports - commodities electronics, machinery, petroleum products, plastics, vehicles, iron and steel and iron and steel products, chemicals

Imports - partners Japan 20%, US 17%, Singapore 13%, Taiwan 5%, China 4%, Germany 4%, Thailand 4% (2001 est.)

Debt - external $44.7 billion (2001 est.)

Currency ringgit (MYR)

Currency code MYR

Exchange rates ringgits per US dollar - 3.8000 (January 2002), 3.8000 (2001), 3.8000 (2000), 3.8000 (1999), 3.9244 (1998), 2.8133 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Malaysia on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Malaysia Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Malaysia Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.