KUALA LUMPUR: The contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) grew by 5.0 per cent, contributing 39.1 per cent to Malaysia's economy in 2023.
According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM), the MSMEs' growth has surpassed Malaysia's GDP of 3.6 per cent in 2023.
For comparison, the MSMEs' GDP surged 12.3 per cent in 2022, with a value added of RM584.1 billion.
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.
In view of external trade perspective, Mohd Uzir said exports of MSMEs stood at RM152.2 billion with a growth of 4.5 per cent in 2023, slower than 17.2 per cent recorded in the preceding year.
He said it was largely influenced by the manufacturing sector with a decrease of 0.7 per cent (2022: 19.5 per cent). "However, the services and agriculture sectors showed robust performance, expanding by 24.2 per cent (2022: 8.8 per cent) and 13.7 per cent (2022: 15.5 per cent) respectively, cushioned the overall impact of MSMEs' performance."
"The exports of MSMEs accounted for 12.2 per cent to the total exports, contributed mainly by manufacturing (9.0 per cent), followed by services (2.8 per cent) and agriculture (0.3 per cent) sectors," he said.
In addition, Mohd Uzir said the 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 added. Ends