Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The Malaysian Government will focus on three main issues this year to achieve high-income nation status by 2026, including fiscal strengthening by focusing on increasing revenue and spending rationalisation.

According to the country’s Ministry of Economy, Malaysia will identify new sources of growth including high-tech industries and prioritise digitisation such as electrics and electronics, aerospace, smart agriculture and biomass and reform the economic structure towards a higher value chain.

The ministry said that the country’s government will identify new sources of growth including high-tech industries and prioritise digitisation such as electricity and electronics, aerospace, smart agriculture and biomass, along with reforming the economic structure towards a higher value chain.

It will also focus on developing an economy based on the service sector, empowering micro, small and medium enterprises and encouraging research, development, commercialisation and innovation.

The gross national income (GNI) per capita at current prices will increase from 42,823RM (9,546 USD) in 2020 to 52,819RM (11,775 USD) in 2022, the ministry said in a written response published on the parliament on March 17.

The ministry said the country’s economic model needs to be adapted to the current situation and emphasis should be placed on reforming the economic structure towards a higher value chain to strengthen growth in all sectors.

Economic resources will be focused on building Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technology capabilities that are capable of supporting the expansion and optimisation of 4IR technologies, namely artificial intelligence, internet of things, blockchain, cloud computing and big data analytics as well as advanced materials and technologies.

It said the government would also emphasise potential sources of growth such as tourism-related sectors as well as agriculture and commodity-based sectors.

Malaysia still has a gap of 9.1% to reach the level of a high-income nation.

The minimum GNI per capita threshold set by the World Bank is 13,206 USD in 2021 and preliminary reviews show that Malaysia is expected to reach high-income nation status between 2025 and 2026, it added./.
VNA