Malaysia on track for recovery: Trade and Industry Minister

Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia’s economy is now on the path to recovery and is projected to chart better growth this year, according to Senior Minister cum International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali.

The brighter economic prospect was attributable to rising global demand, increased public and private sector spending, as well as continued policy support, he said in a keynote address at the Malaysian Economic Summit 2021 webinar on July 13. His speech was read by International Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Lim Ban Hong.

This brighter prospect will also be reflected in the recovery in labour market conditions and higher production in the manufacturing sector, particularly in the electrical and electronics (E&E), and the oil and gas facilities, he added.

Mohamed Azmin believed that due to Malaysia’s open economy, enhancement of productivity and economic growth would be further underpinned by an improvement in the global technology upcycle, as well as policy support from various fiscal and monetary measures, including the additional economic stimulus packages.

This positive outlook is reinforced by the World Bank’s most recent forecast, where it projected the Malaysian economy to grow by 4.5 percent in 2021, albeit revised down from our own more robust Bank Negara Malaysia’s projections, he said.

He noted that last year, Malaysia ranked 12th in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking, 27th in the IMD World Competitiveness ranking and was the fourth out of 17 economies as a manufacturing hub.

It is significant because the services and manufacturing sectors account for 58 percent and 23 percent of the economy, respectively, while the commodity sector accounts for 14 percent, which reflects the increasing sophistication, depth and complexity of the Malaysian economy, said Mohamed Azmin.

Moving forward, the minister said Malaysia will extend domestic linkages through integration with the regional economy, and empower more local businesses to better participate in the global value chain. Malaysia wants investments that are interested to expand across the ASEAN region, and aims to develop new and existing clusters that play a fundamental role in driving economic spill-overs which are the key to delivering holistic ecosystem benefits./.