Malaysian economic fundamentals strong — Statistics department

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s economic fundamentals remain strong and the country is well on the way towards achieving the developed nation status.

According to report published by the Statistics Department every five years, the number of companies operating in Malaysia had grown by 6.8 per cent to 920,624 in 2015, compared with 663,010 in 2010.

Chief Statistician, Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin, said the companies had generated value-added of RM983 billion in 2015, with the services sector accounting for 88.9 per cent of the amount.

“Among the industries which had generated the highest amount in added-value is the petroleum and natural gas extraction industry, with RM92.3 billion,” he told reporters during the 2016 Economic Census press conference yesterday.

Mohd Uzir said this was in line with the country’s rapid economic growth between 2010-2015.

Currently, he said, the services sector remained as the main contributor to the nation’s economic structure at 52.6 per cent, up from 51.6 per cent in 2010, followed by the manufacturing sector which contributed 26.3 per cent, compared to 25.6 per cent previously.

“The government is also actively working towards strengthening the services sector which it sees as being the main driver of the country’s growth, especially with the formulation of the Small and Medium Enterprises Masterplan,” he said.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector recorded the highest output for the first time of RM1.1 trillion with value added of RM259.2 billion and involved 2.1 million workers.

Mohd Uzir said Malaysia has a competitive advantage when it involved the manufacturing sector, as many local manufacturing companies were also active in the international markets, in addition to having the latest technology at their behest.

“We believe that Malaysia will be able to achieve a high-income status nation despite the global economic challenges,” he said. — Bernama THE Kuala Lumpur Tin Market (KLTM) eased US$1 to close at US$19,649 per tonne yesterday on a technical correction, dealers said.

A dealer said this was also in line with the correction in the tin price on the London Metal Exchange (LME) which was down US$80 to US$19,560 per tonne.

However, the fundamentals remain intact, with growing demand and tight supply continuing to boost prices, he added.