Why Malaysia

Economic Strength Malaysia is in its most radical transformation as it battles to achieve the Vision 2020. The transformation is visible on the political front, the public sector and among Malaysian business entities.
Making Transformation Happen
Malaysia has progressed from an economy dependent on agriculture and primary commodities to a manufacturing-based, export-driven economy spurred on by high technology, knowledge-based and capital-intensive industries. To move the country forward, the Government has crafted a framework comprising four pillars to drive the change.

The New Economic Model (NEM) to be achieved through an Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) constitutes a key pillar which will propel Malaysia to being an advanced nation with inclusiveness and sustainability in line with goals set forth in Vision 2020. The ETP will be driven by eight Strategic Reforms Initiatives (SRIs) which will form the basis of the relevant policy measures. Three other pillars have been launched over the past year. They are the 1Malaysia, the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) to strengthen public services in the National Key Results Areas (NKRAs) and the 10th Malaysia Plan 2011-2015, the economic blueprint that will set the tone of the whole country development over the next five years. It contains the new policy directions, strategies and programmes all targeted enabling Malaysia to emerge as a developed high-income nation.

Continuous Economic Success In 2012, Malaysias economy grew 5.6%, higher than the 5.1% seen in 2011 and beat the governments targeted growth of between 5% and 5.5%. Malaysias GDP expanded 6.4% in the fourth quarter of 2012 from a year earlier. Download report at http://www.bnm.gov.my/files/publication/qb/2012/Q4/Q4_en.pdf High Level of Global Integration Total trade in 2012 was valued at RM1.310 trillion, an increase of 8.7% from RM1.271 trillion in 2011. This was contributed by exports of RM702.19 billion and RM607.36 billion. Export expanded by 0.6% while import rose 8.6% compared with 2011. Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of RM94.82 billion for the year, making it the 15th consecutive year of total trade surplus achieved since 1998. For December 2012, Malaysian exports were 5.8% lower in December 2012 to RM57.27 billion compared with December 2011. Imports declined by 6.5% to RM49.03 billion while total trade declined by 6.1% from December 2011 to RM106.30 billion. Visit MATRADE at http://www.matrade.gov.my/en/malaysia-exporters-section/190-tradeperformance-2012/2708-malaysias-trade-performance-2012 The 10th Most Attractive Destination for FDI Malaysia was listed as the world's 10th most attractive FDI destination by global management consultant A.T. Kearney in its recent FDI Confidence Index study, which collated data from more than 200 executives from 27 countries and 17 industry sectors. Malaysia was ranked 20th in 2010. The jump is a testimony of growing investors' confidence in the government's various initiatives to transform the economy into that of a high-income nation by 2020. Visit A.T. Kearney at http://www.atkearney.com/documents/10192/fdaa84a5-a30a-4e4e-bc36453375d6596f The 12th in the Ease of Doing Business Malaysia is the 12th most competitive economy in the world for doing business, according to the Ease of Doing Business Report 2013 released by the World Bank. This ranking places Malaysia 4th in Asia after Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea.