Friday 29 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (July 31): The Statistics Department said today Malaysia's small and medium enterprises (SMEs) contribution to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) rose to 38.3% in 2018 from 37.8% in 2017, led by expansion in the services and manufacturing sectors and as SMEs exports grew.

In a statement today, the department said SMEs 2018 GDP stood at RM521.7 billion versus the country's total GDP of RM1.36 trillion during the year.

"The value added of SMEs at constant 2015 prices escalated to RM521.7 billion as compared to RM491.2 billion in 2017. SMEs activities were dominated by services sector which contributed 62.4% and manufacturing sector with a share of 20.1%. The agriculture sector contributed 10.1% to SMEs GDP followed by the construction sector which contributed 5.9%.

"Malaysia's SMEs GDP for year 2018 grew at 6.2% as compared to 7.1% in 2017. This performance exceeded Malaysia's GDP and non SMEs growth which registered 4.7% and 3.8% respectively.

"The structure of SMEs GDP by kind of economic activity is almost similar to the Malaysia's GDP structure with the exception of mining & quarrying sector due to structural differences between SMEs and Malaysia's GDP," it said.

The department's chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in the statement that SMEs services and manufacturing sectors grew 8.1% and 5.5% respectively.

"The (services sector) growth momentum was accelerated by wholesale & retail trade, food & beverages and accommodation sub-sector which grew to 8.6%. Finance, insurance, real estate and business services sub-sector which increased to 7.6% has also supported the growth momentum.

"In manufacturing sector, value added of SMEs grew to 5.5% led by petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products with a growth of 5.8%," Mohd Uzir said.

Malaysia's SMEs' exports grew 3.4% to RM171.9 billion in 2018 from a year earlier, driven mainly by the manufacturing and services sectors' external sales.

Mohd Uzir said SMEs' manufacturing and services exports grew 5.1% and 2% respectively.

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