KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 — The government would continue to broaden the country’s revenue base in order to minimise the country’s dependency on revenue from the oil and gas sector, said Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar.
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) said a broadened and diversified economy would enable the country to better withstand global crises.
“Over the years, we have been diversifying our economy. Currently, the services sector accounts for 55 per cent of our economy and manufacturing makes up 25 per cent, while both the mining and agricultural sectors make up only 15 per cent of the economy.
“The lower crude oil prices will have a slight impact on gross domestic product (GDP), but if you look at the revised GDP growth forecast of between 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent, it is still more credible than other countries in the world,” he told reporters after the Economic Wrap-Up 2014 here today.
The country’s revenue from the oil and gas sector has seen a significant reduction from 35.4 per cent of the total government revenue in 2010 to 29.7 per cent in 2014 as estimated by the EPU.
On Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN, he said there is a great potential to increase intra-ASEAN trade to more than one-third of total international trade from about 25 per cent currently.
“We are certainly excited about ASEAN. Many multi-national companies have even started to broaden their investments in ASEAN such as Sime Darby, Axiata, Maybank and CIMB,” he added. — Bernama
