Economy of Malaysia Kuala Lumpur , national capital of Malaysia, and its largest city
Currency Ringgit (MYR, RM)Calendar year Trade organisations
APEC , ASEAN , IOR-ARC , WTO , JETRO , RCEP , CPTPP , EAS , AFTA Country group
Population 34,100,000 (2024)[ 3] GDP GDP rank GDP growth
3.6% (2023)
5.1% (2024 est.)
5.0% (2025 est.)[ 5]
GDP per capita
$14,423 (nominal; 2025 est.)[ 4]
$40,123 (PPP; 2025 est.)[ 4]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
GDP by component
Household consumption: 60.4%
Government consumption: 12.0%
Investment in fixed capital: 19.2%
Investment in inventories: 3.3%
Exports of goods and services: 68.4%
Imports of goods and services: -63.4%
(2023 est.)[ 7]
2.67% (2024)[ 4]
6.2% (2021 est.)[ 8]
2.3% on less than $6.85/day (2021)[ 9]
40.7 medium (2021)[ 10] Labour force
17,307,639 (2023)[ 13]
75.1% employment rate (2024)[ 14]
Labour force by occupation
(2022)[ 15] }} Unemployment 2.925% (2025)[ 4] Average gross salary
RM3,212 / US$729 monthly[ 16] (2022) Main industries
Electronics , semiconductors , microchips , integrated circuits , rubber , oleochemicals , automotive , optical devices , pharmaceuticals , medical equipment , smelting , timber , wood pulp , Islamic finance , petroleum , liquified natural gas , petrochemicals , telecommunications Exports
$270 billion (As of September 2024)
$310 billion (2023)
$352 billion (2022)[ 17]
Export goods
Electrical & electronic products , palm oil & palm oil based agriculture products , petroleum products , chemicals & chemical products , machinery, equipment & parts , manufactures of metal, optical & scientific equipment, liquified natural gas , palm oil-based manufactured products, processed food Main export partners
Imports
$248 billion (As of September 2024)
$264 billion (2023)
$294 billion (2022)[ 19]
Import goods
Electrical & electronic products , petroleum products, machinery, equipment & parts , chemicals & chemical products , manufactures of metal, crude petroleum , transport equipment, processed food , optical & scientific equipment, iron & steel products Main import partners
$194 billion (2023 est.)[ 20] $13.148 billion (2024)[ 4] $273.9 billion (31 March 2022 est.)[ 8] 66.86% of GDP (2024)[ 4] −4.36% of GDP (2024)[ 4] Revenues 66.44 billion (2024 est.)[ 8] Expenses 83.92 billion (2024 est.)[ 8] Economic aid $40.5
million (2005 est.) US$119.7 billion (September 2024) All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars .
The economy of Malaysia is an emerging and developing , upper-middle income , highly industrialised , mixed economy . It ranks the 36th largest in the world in terms of nominal GDP , however, when measured by purchasing power parity, its GDP climbs to the 30th largest . Malaysia is forecasted to have a nominal GDP of nearly half a trillion US$ by the end of 2024. [ 24] The labour productivity of Malaysian workers is the third highest in ASEAN and significantly higher than Indonesia , Vietnam , and the Philippines .[ 25]
Malaysia excels above similar income group peers in terms of business competitiveness and innovation. Global Competitiveness Report 2024 ranks Malaysian economy as the 34th most competitive country economy in the world[ 26] while Global Innovation Index 2024 ranks Malaysia as the 33rd most innovative nation globally.[ 27]
Malaysia is the 35th most trade intensive economy globally; higher than Denmark , Norway , Germany , and Sweden with total trade activities at 132% of its GDP. [ 28] In addition, the Malaysian economy has developed vertical and horizontal integration across several export linked industry while capturing a significant global market share for manufactured products and commodities ranging from integrated circuit , semiconductor , palm oil to liquefied natural gas . Furthermore, Malaysia is an important nexus in the global semiconductor market and is the third largest exporter of semiconductor devices in the world.[ 29] Malaysia has unveiled plan to target over US$100 billion in investment for its semiconductor industry as it positions itself as a global manufacturing hub.[ 30]
By mid-2024, the country attracted large foreign direct investment centered on the global artificial intelligence boom with foreign technology companies like Google , Microsoft and ByteDance flocked to the country and invested US$2 billion,[ 31] US$2.2 billion,[ 32] and US$2.1 billion,[ 33] respectively, to capitalise on Malaysia's competitive advantage in the data center and hyperscale construction due to its highly educated workforce, cheap land acquisition, low water and electricity cost, and the absence of natural disasters .[ 34] This is expected to consolidate Malaysia position as a cloud computing hub for wider Asia, increasing its high value sector and propel its economy to meet the government high-income economy goal.
Overall, the Malaysian economy is highly robust and diversified with the export value of high-tech products in 2022 standing around US$66 billion, the third highest in ASEAN.[ 35] Malaysia exports the second largest volume and value of palm oil products globally, after Indonesia .[ 36]
Malaysians enjoy a relatively affluent lifestyle compared to many of its neighbours in Southeast Asia . This is due to a fast-growing export-oriented economy, a relatively low national income tax , highly affordable local food and transport fuel, as well as a fully subsidized single-payer public healthcare system. Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy , which is relatively open and state-oriented.[ 37] [ 38]
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^ "Department of Statistics Malaysia: Salaries and Wages Survey Report 2022" . Retrieved 23 October 2024 .
^ "Trade Performance 2021" . Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation. Archived from the original on 15 May 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2021 .
^ a b "Trade Performance 2024 - MATRADE" . Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 24 October 2024 .
^ "OEC - Malaysia (MYS) Exports, Imports, and Trade Partners" . atlas.media.mit.edu . Archived from the original on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 24 March 2019 .
^ "Malaysia's FDI" . news.cn . Xinhua. Archived from the original on 16 February 2024. Retrieved 16 February 2024 .
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^ "Global Innovation Index 2024" . World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) . Retrieved 28 September 2024 .
^ "Malaysia - Trade (% Of GDP)" . data.worldbank.org . Retrieved 20 June 2024 .
^ "Semiconductor Devices" . Observatory for Economics Complexity . Retrieved 20 June 2024 .
^ "Malaysia targets over $100 bln in semiconductor industry investment" . reuters.com . Retrieved 20 June 2024 .
^ "Google to invest $2 billion in Malaysia and build data center to capture rising AI demand" . CNBC . 30 May 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024 .
^ "Microsoft announces US$2.2 billion investment to fuel Malaysia's cloud and AI transformation" . news.microsoft.com . 2 May 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024 .
^ "TikTok owner ByteDance to expand Malaysia data center footprint in $2.1bn AI deal" . datacenterdynamics.com . Retrieved 20 June 2024 .
^ "Analyst: Malaysia a 'magnet' for data centers due to low likelihood of natural disasters, cheap electricity and land" . www.nst.com.my/business/corporate . 23 May 2024. Retrieved 20 June 2024 .
^ "High-technology exports (current US$)" . data.worldbank.org . Retrieved 20 June 2024 .
^ "OEC - Palm Oil (HS92: 1511) Product Trade, Exporters and Importers" . Archived from the original on 30 August 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2017 .
^ Boulton, WilliaM; Pecht, Michael; Tucker, William; Wennberg, Sam (May 1997). "Electronics Manufacturing in the Pacific Rim, World Technology Evaluation Center, Chapter 4: Malaysia" . Wtec.org. Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2010 .
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