Mohd Uzir said the manufacturing sector maintained its strong growth, although at a more moderate pace of 7.3 per cent, supported mainly by petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products. — Ahmad Zamzahuri

KUALA LUMPUR, July 24 — Malaysia’s economy grew 5.5 per cent in 2018 with a gross domestic product (GDP) value of RM1.4 trillion at current prices, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

In a statement, chief statistician of Malaysia Datuk Seri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the GDP was contributed by gross operating surplus which amounted to RM882.5 billion while compensation of employees reached RM515.9 billion, an increase of RM29.3 billion from 2017.

He said taxes less subsidies on production and imports stood at RM48.5 billion as compared with RM64.9 billion in the previous year.

“Gross operating surplus remained the largest share in income components at 61.0 per cent and registered a growth of 7.6 per cent in 2018, driven by the services sector which recorded 9.9 per cent backed by wholesale and retail trade, food and beverage and accommodation.

“The manufacturing sector maintained a strong growth although at a more moderate pace of 7.3 per cent, supported mainly by petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products,” he said.

Mohd Uzir said contribution of compensation of employees to Malaysia’s GDP expanded to 35.7 per cent, with a growth of 6.0 per cent, with the momentum largely driven by the services sector which continued to record favourable growth at 7.5 per cent.

The compensation of employees for manufacturing sector, he said, moderated to 5.3 per cent from a double-digit growth of 11.6 per cent in 2017 due to milder growth in all sub-sectors.

Meanwhile, compensation of employees for construction and mining and quarrying sectors grew at 5.1 per cent and 9.6 per cent respectively, he said.

Conversely, compensation of employees for agriculture sector decreased to 9.2 per cent from a positive growth of 13.5 per cent in 2017.

He said gross domestic income (GDI) compilation reported net taxes or taxes less subsidy on production and imports constituted 3.4 per cent of overall income and plummeted to 25.3 per cent after recording a marginal growth of 0.3 per cent in the previous year.

The national tax policy in 2018 had been restructured by the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) at zero rates from June 1 to Aug 31, 2018 before being replaced by Sales and Services Tax (SST) which started on Sept 1, 2018.

“This scenario has indirectly impacted on the decline in taxes on production and imports.

“Furthermore, subsidies have also increased mainly due to the stabilisation of retail petrol RON95 and diesel prices. The fuel subsidies increased to RM7.5 billion as compared with RM3.1 billion in the previous year,” Mohd Uzir said.

In comparison with selected countries in 2018, Malaysia’s GDI recorded the highest percentage share of gross operating surplus with 61.0 per cent while Singapore was the second highest with 53.1 per cent.

The lowest gross operating surplus was registered in European countries with Sweden recording a contribution of 31.7 per cent, he said.

Meanwhile, as for percentage share in compensation of employees, the US recorded the highest contribution with 52.8 per cent followed by Canada at 50.5 per cent.

GDI features income components in the form of compensation of employees, gross operating surplus, and taxes less subsidies on production and imports.

The statistics on income is an essential indication to determine the direction of income in Malaysia’s economy. It assists in identifying the returns of production to household and companies in Malaysia. — Bernama