Trend Analysis- Real GDP Growth of Malaysia

From 1991 to 1997, Malaysia’s GDP grew at a constant rate, with the GDP growing at 9.5%,
8.9%, 9.9%, 9.2%, 9.8%, 10% and 7.3%. GDP declined by 7.4% in the year 1997-98 due to the
Asian financial crisis. However, the economy bounced back sharply in the following year,
recording a 6.1% growth followed by an 8.9% growth. After the 1998 economic crisis,
massive government spending was needed which resulted in strong GDP growth.
There was a global economic slowdown in the year 2001, however Malaysia was resilient to
the economic slowdown with its economy not contracting and the recorded a growth of
0.5%. Again, Malaysia showed a strong growth rate of 5.4% in the following years and grew
at an average rate of about 5.76% up to 2008. Then again, a global recession hit resulting in
the GDP declining by 1.5% in the year 2009. Once again, the GDP grew by 7.4% in the
following year from 2011-2019, the GDP of Malaysia did grow but the growth rate steadily
declined with the GDP growing at 5.3%, 5.5%, 4.7%, 6%, 5.1%, 4.4%, 5.8%, 4.8% and 4.4% up
until 2019. Then in 2020, Covid hit resulting in the GDP declining by 5.6% in the year 2020. In
the year 2021, the GDP grew by 3.1%.
The general trend which we can see form the graph is that the GDP growth has been
steadily declining with the GDP growing by more than 9% in the year 1991 to 2000 and since
then growing at an average rate of around 6%. Malaysia today is an upper middle-income
country and is one of the largest exporters of electronic goods.

Trend Analysis- Share of categories of Products in Total Exports

Malaysia’s biggest export products by value in 2021 were electronic integrated circuits,
refined petroleum oil, palm oil, rubber accessories and petroleum gases, combined these
major exports accounted for around 40% of the overall export sales from Malaysia, the
subset of leading exporting goods implies a relatively diversified range of exported goods.
The following export products represent the highest dollar value in Malaysian global
shipments during 2021. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents
in terms of overall exports from Malaysia.

 Electrical machinery USD 102.8 Billion (34.4% of total exports).

 Minerals used USD 37.2 Billion (12.4% of total exports).
 Machinery including computers USD 25 Billion (8.4% of total exports).
 Animal/Vegetable fats USD 19.6 Billion (6.6% of total exports).
 Rubber Articles USD 16.8 Billion (5.6% of the total exports).
 Optical and medical apparatus USD 12.6 Billion (4.2% of total exports).
 Plastic articles USD 10.3 Billion (3.4% of total exports).
 Aluminium USD 7.3 Billion (2.4 % of total exports).
 Iron and Steel USD 6.6 Billion (2.2% of total exports).
 Other Chemical Goods USD 6 Billion (2% of total exports).
Malaysia’s top 10 exports accounted for over 80% of the overall value of its global
shipments. Aluminium was the fastest growing sector among the top 10 export categories
up by 93% from 2020 to 2021. In second place other chemical goods via its 52.2% gain from
2020 to 2021. Then Malaysia shipments of rubber articles posted the third fastest gain up by
almost 50% from 2020. Then amongst Malaysia’s top 10 export categories, optical and
medical apparatus exports grew the least with a 16.6% rise from 2020 to 2021.