KUALA LUMPUR, May 12 — Malaysia said it’s on track to achieve its goal of becoming a high-income nation by 2020 as the country enters the mid-point of a 10-year program to transform the economy and reduce reliance on oil revenues.
Gross national income per capita in Southeast Asia’s third- largest economy rose to US$10,060 (RM32,600) last year, the government said in a statement today as it released the 2013 annual report for its so-called Economic Transformation Program. That compares with a previously reported US$9,970 (RM32,200) in 2012, and its target of US$15,000 (RM48,500) by 2020. The country received RM161.1 billion ringgit of private investments last year, it said.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is dismantling decades of subsidies to address fiscal risks identified by Fitch Ratings, which cut Malaysia’s credit outlook in July. The government said today private consumption now accounts for more than half of gross domestic product, while a broadened tax base has increased revenue even as the country depends less on contributions from its oil and gas industry.
“Malaysia’s economic transformation is evolving to acquire the characteristics of a high-income economy that is service- based, private-consumption driven and being less reliant on oil revenues,” the government said.
A nation is considered high income when GNI per capita meets or exceeds US$12,616 (RM40,800), according to the World Bank. — Bloomberg
