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Malaysia: SME GDP up 1% in 2021 but slower than country’s 3.1%
MALAYSIA’S small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 increased 1%, slower than Malaysia’s GDP which grew 3.1%, says the Statistics Department.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said generally, the growth of SMEs’ GDP will exceed Malaysia’s GDP but since 2020, the SME GDP has recorded slower growth than the country’s GDP.
“The contribution of SMEs to GDP declined to 37.4% (2020: 38.1%) with a value add of RM518.1bil. The services and manufacturing sectors upheld their position as the main contributors with both sectors representing 83% of SME GDP.
“In addition, the SME GDP increased to RM572.6bil in nominal terms this year against RM547.3bil as reported in 2020. Nevertheless, SMEs’ economic performance in 2021 was still lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019,” he said, according to Bernama.
Looking at the SME GDP performance by kind of economic activity, Mohd Uzir said the manufacturing sector rebounded to 8.5% from a decline of 2.9% in the previous year.
“This favourable performance was supported by the expansion in all sub-sectors, particularly in petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products which surged 14.4%.
“Similarly, the value add of SMEs in the agriculture sector rose to 1.9% from negative 0.7% driven by growth in the rubber, oil palm, livestock and other agriculture sub-sector,” he says.
On the other hand, he says the SME value add in the mining and quarrying sector contracted 3.1% in 2021 while the construction sector fell 4.6% compared to a 15.4% decline in the preceding year.
He says the value add of SMEs in the services sector posted a decline of 1.2% from a fall of 9% in 2020 attributed to the finance, insurance, real estate and business services sub-sector which deteriorated by 5.8%.
“Nevertheless, this downturn was offset by the performance in the wholesale and retail trade, food and beverage and accommodation, and the transportation and storage, and information and communication sub-sectors which grew 0.5% and 2.9%, respectively,” he adds.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2022/07/30/sme-gdp-up-1-in-2021-but-slower-than-countrys-31