Malaysia Towards a High Income, Inclusive and Sustainable Economy by 2020

    The Malaysian Government have plans and schemes to accelerate economic growth within five-years’ time. The Government plans to increased multi-factor of productivity which to increase the growth of GDP up to 40%, while that of capital is expected to be reduce to 44% and 16% for labor. Higher productivity growth could be achieved through comprehensive initiatives at all levels and championed by industry players. To raise industrial productivity, innovation ecosystem will be enhanced to elevate productivity through new or improved processes and technologies. 

      The Malaysian government has released its eleventh economic development plan for the years 2016 to 2020 with ambitious economic plans, it details the goals and future implementations of the various strategies that will be implemented in the coming years in accordance with the ultimate goal to make Malaysia a high income economy by 2020.

    The eleventh economic plan for Malaysia identifies six "Strategic Thrust", key points along which the economic policies will focus to ensure Malaysia reaches its goal. Development should be focus as a whole including the economic sense, politics, technologies, social, spiritual and cultures.

Next, the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) is the government’s comprehensive effort to propel the country forward towards becoming a high-income nation by 2020, and will be achieved by making changes and improvements to selected areas of the country’s economy. The twelve areas chosen for the focus of the ETP are known as National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) and each was chosen for its potential to contribute towards the economic growth of the Malaysian economy.

The twelve NKEAs are based on eleven industries and one geographic area and are as follows: Oil, Gas and Energy; Palm Oil; Financial Services; Tourism; Business Services; Electronics and Electrical; Wholesale and Retail; Education; Healthcare; Communications, Content and Infrastructure; Agriculture; Greater KL.

These twelve NKEAs have a total of 131 Entry Point Projects (EPP), which together work towards making Malaysia a high-income nation by 2020. Focus will be placed on creating projects in these various areas, although the portfolio of NKEAs will evolve over time, depending on the performance of various sectors of the economy.

     Besides to increases the Malaysian GDP and national income per capita above USD 15,000, the key target for the whole plan is to increase the employment opportunities for citizen while decrease the unemployment rate in this country. The government plans are to reduce the crime rate by improving people’s sense of security. Restructuring citizen healthcare system and moving from strategies that emphasise treatment to wellness and disease prevention to improve the quality of healthcare services and universal access for treatments. Lastly, ensuring the quality and affordable housing and meeting the needs of growing population by matching demand and supply while promoting an efficient and sustainable housing industry. Thus, these are the plans, objectives and strategies made that will drive our country towards a high income, inclusive and sustainable economy by 2020.