Malaysia No Longer In Middle-Income Trap

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is no longer stuck in the middle income trap, given the steady growth of its gross national income (GNI) in recent years and improving fiscal position.

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Performance Management & Delivery Unit ( Pemandu) pointed out that Malaysia’s GNI at US $10,570 per capita last year is now only 15% away from the high-income economy benchmark, compared with US$8,280 per capita in 2010, which then put the nation 33% short of achieving the coveted category.

According to World Bank’s definition, a high-income nation needs to have a minimum GNI of US $12,475 per capita in 2015, compared with US $12,276 per capita in 2010.

“We have become unstuck from the middle income trap,” said Pemandu chief Datuk Seri Idris Jala.

“We’ve also reduced subsidy and undertaken various reforms to lower fiscal deficit and stimulate private investment growth,” he added in his keynote address at a roundtable discussion -The Business Year here on Wednesday.

Idris noted that the reduction in Malaysia’s  fiscal deficit from 6.6% of GDP in 2009 to 3.2% last year was an indication of a stronger and more sustainable financial position.

–THESTAR

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