KUALA LUMPUR: The contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) grew by 5.0 per cent in 2023, with a value added of RM613.1 billion and contributing 39.1 per cent to Malaysia’s economy, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
The MSMEs’ growth has surpassed Malaysia's GDP growth of 3.6 per cent in 2023.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the services and manufacturing sectors are the main contributors, which comprise 84.8 per cent of the MSMEs’ GDP.
"The agriculture sector contributed 9.1 per cent to MSMEs’ GDP, followed by the construction (4.5 per cent) and mining and quarrying (0.5 per cent) sectors,” he said in a statement today.
Mohd Uzir said the services sector increased 6.5 per cent in 2023 from 17.2 per cent in the preceding year.
"The performance was supported by steady growth in the main sub-sectors, namely wholesale and retail trade, food and beverages and accommodation (5.7 per cent); finance, insurance, real estate and business services (6.3 per cent); and transportation and storage and information and communication (10.6 per cent).
The manufacturing sector recorded a growth of 1.5 per cent (2022: 6.0 per cent) and was influenced by positive growth in food, beverages and tobacco (5.0 per cent); and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (5.3 per cent) sub-sectors.
The value added of MSMEs in the agriculture sector increased 1.3 per cent in 2023, higher than the 0.9 per cent growth in the preceding year.
The performance was supported by the rubber, oil palm, livestock & other agriculture (1.8 per cent) and fishing (0.5 per cent) sub-sectors.
Meanwhile, MSMEs’ value added of construction and mining and quarrying sectors also expanded by 5.8 per cent (2022: 5.0 per cent) and 4.9 per cent (2022: 10.7 per cent), respectively.
On another note, Mohd Uzir said exports of MSMEs stood at RM152.2 billion with a growth of 4.5 per cent in 2023, slower than the 17.2 per cent recorded in the preceding year.
He said MSMEs' employment continued to register an increase, albeit at a slower annual growth of 3.5 per cent compared to 3.8 per cent in 2022, to record a total of 7.86 million persons from 7.59 million persons in 2022.
"Accordingly, the contribution of MSMEs' employment to Malaysia's employment in 2023 was 48.5 per cent, which grew 0.3 percentage points from 48.2 per cent in 2022,” he said. - Bernama
