All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.
The economy of Malaysia is the sixth largest in Southeast Asia and the 36th largest in the world in terms of nominal GDP. When measured by purchasing power parity, its GDP climbs to the 30th largest. Malaysia is forecasted to have a nominal GDP nearly half a trillion US$ by the end of 2024. [22] The labour productivity of Malaysian workers is the third highest in ASEAN and significantly higher than Indonesia, Vietnam and The Philippines.[23] The 2024 Global Competitiveness Report ranked Malaysian economy the 34th most competitive country economy in the world.[24]
Malaysia is the 35th most trade intensive economy globally, higher than even Denmark, Norway, Germany and Sweden with total trade activities exceeding 131% of its GDP. [25] In addition, 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 on the planet. [26] Malaysia has unveiled plan to target US$100 billion in investment for its semiconductor industry as it position itself as global semiconductor hub. [27]
By middle of year 2024, the country has successfully attracted large foreign direct investment centered on global artificial intelligence boom with foreign technology companies like Google, Microsoft and ByteDance flocked to the country and invested US$2 bilion, [28] US$2.2 bilion, [29] and US$2.1 bilion, [30] respectively, to capitalise on Malaysia's competitive advantage in the data centre and hyperscale construction due to its highly educated workforce, cheap land acquisition, low water and electricity cost and most importantly absence of natural disasters. [31] 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.[32] Malaysia exports the second largest volume and value of palm oil products globally, after Indonesia.[33]
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 industrialisedmarket economy, which is relatively open and state-oriented.[34][35]