of 73 years and gross primary school enrolment of 93 per cent of the school age
population. Malaysian statistics suggest poverty had fallen from 49 per cent of
households in 1970 to around 5 per cent in 2004.
Malaysia's economic development policies are enunciated in a number of guiding
documents which include:
Vision 2020; the National Mission (2006-2020) ; and the
Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010) .
In 1991 the Malaysian Government launched Vision 2020 - a plan for Malaysia to
achieve developed economy status by the year 2020 . Specific targets
include
increasing real GDP eightfold between 1990 and 2020 - translating to
average annual
growth of seven per cent - and increasing per capita income by a factor of four .
Recent Economic Performance and Outlook
The Malaysian economy expanded by 5 .7 per cent on an annualised basis in the
second quarter of 2007, underpinned by strong domestic demand, particularly in the
services sector which registered growth of 9 .2 per cent in the second quarter of 2007 .
Malaysia's economy grew by 5 .9 per cent in 2006 . The Malaysian
Government
forecasts GDP growth of 6 per cent in 2007 and between 6 and 6 .5 per cent in
2008 .
This is based on sustained global economic growth and high prices for primary
commodities (including crude petroleum and palm oil) .
Malaysia continues to have a large trade surplus (since November 1997) . Annual
inflation was 3 .6 per cent in 2006 . The unemployment rate was
3 .3 per cent in 2006
and is expected to remain below 4 per cent in 2007 .
Malaysia's Trade and Foreign Investment Policy
Malaysia is a strong supporter of the multilateral trading system, in particular the
World Trade Organisation . Malaysia participates actively in regional economic
arrangements such as the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)
and the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC). Malaysia is also a member of the
Cairns Group -
which advocates more liberalised global trade in agriculture . Malaysia's major trading
partners are the USA, Singapore, Japan and China .
Of considerable significance for Australia was the April 2005 decision to begin
negotiations on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) . Malaysia
is also pursuing
bilateral FTA
negotiations with the USA, New
Zealand, Chile and Pakistan, and is
part of the ASEAN-wide negotiations for ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand,
ASEAN-
China, ASEAN-India, ASEAN-Japan, ASEAN-Korea and ASEAN-EU FTAs.
Malaysia has concluded an FTA with Japan.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has played a large part in Malaysia's
development .
As a share of GDP, gross FDI has been sustained at 6 per cent in the post-Asian
financial crisis years, compared with an average of 8 per cent in the mid-1990s when
FDI flows peaked . The government has sought to channel investment into export-
oriented manufacturing and capital-intensive and high technology industries .