Malaysia To Focus On 12 NKEAs That Contribute To High Income
- By Online News Source
- Published 10 June 2010
- General
- Unrated
Source: Bernama
Malaysia will focus its economic growth efforts on the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) which span 11 sectors and one geographic area.
The Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister's Department says in the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) (2011-2015) report released today, the NKEAs were chosen on the basis of contribution to high income, sustainability and inclusiveness.
For the next five years, these sectors would include oil and gas, palm oil and related products, financial services, wholesale and retail, tourism, information and communications technology, education, electrical and electronics, business services, private healthcare, agriculture and greater Kuala Lumpur.
The oil and gas industry, which contributed 13.1 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) last year, could further develop not only its oil field services and equipment (OFSE) but also logistics, as Malaysia is one of the world's largest owner and operator of LNG carriers.
The EPU says to leverage on the industry's potential, the government will increase its international market access, enhance skills training in partnership with industry and enhance linkages in the downstream industries to optimise resources, facilities and services.
It also seeks to expand opportunities in logistics and maritime business activities as well as strengthen the industry's related professional services and creating international champions such as in OFSE, those related to deep water extraction and integrated service providers.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tabled the 10MP in the Dewan Rakyat today.
The EPU also says in line with the target of increasing the palm oil industry's output to RM21.9 billion to GDP with export earnings of RM69.3 billion, the government would among others, promote Malaysia as a global hub for palm oil and a prefered destination for foreign investments in areas such as oleochemical based products, bulking facilities, and research and development (R&D).
The government has also targeted to strengthen the financial services and has aimed to grow the finance and insurance sectors to 8.3 per cent and 12.7 percent each to the GDP.
This says the EPU, will be done by formulating a new financial sector blueprint to evolve the finance sector and address structural issues within the general insurance industry via consolidation and rationalisation.
As for the wholesale and retail industry, the government aims to modernise and ransform it to be more efficient with higher quality services to consumers.
This, says the EPU, is in line with the target of the industry contributing 15.1 per cent of GDP in 2015, and includes liberalising it and encouraging consolidation.
According to the EPU, to achieve the tourism industry's contribution of RM115 billion to GDP with two million jobs in 2015, the government aims to attract a larger share of high spend travellers and capture a higher share of high growth segments, particularly from Russia, India, China and the Middle East.
As for information and communications technology (ICT), MSC Malaysia would identify and support the niche areas in software and e-solutions, creative multimedia, shared services and outsourcing as well as e-business.
The foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy is expected to attract multinational corporations (MNCs) to anchor these selected focus areas with clusters of knowledge-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around it.
During the plan period, the EPU says the government would focus on developing key enablers of electrical and electronics (E&E), such as upskilling existing talent and increasing supply of relevant talent, strengthening the R&D ecosystem, growing the domestic vendor base and establishing infrastructure.
In achieving the target to increase the business services sector's contribution to 3.3 per cent of GDP by 2015, the government would focus on further developing construction related and environmental management services.
In speaking about healthcare, the EPU in its report says for private healthcare, the government aims to grow revenue from healthcare travel by 10 per cent annually and make Malaysia the prefered healthcare destination in the region.
In agriculture, special focus would be given to high value activities including swiflet farming, aquaculture, seaweed and herb and spices, to increase the sector's contribution to GDP to two per cent by 2015.
On food security, the EPU says it would be strategically addressed to ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of food, particularly rice for the general public.
Lastly, to position greater Kuala Lumpur as a world-class city, a combination of economic growth and liveability strategies would be required.
This includes establishing the Kuala Lumpur International Financial District as a global financial centre especially for Islamic Finance, and transforming the urban public transportation to ensure seamless interconnectivity links.
The EPU says, besides the NKEAs, the economic development of regions would be accelerated under the 10MP by focusing around a limited number of high-density clusters in the corridors that have sector and geographic advantages.
Among others, it stated, the government would identify anchor investors to spearhead development of the corridors and refocus corridor authorities on smaller key industry clusters within localised geographies.
Malaysia will focus its economic growth efforts on the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) which span 11 sectors and one geographic area.
The Economic Planning Unit (EPU) in the Prime Minister's Department says in the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) (2011-2015) report released today, the NKEAs were chosen on the basis of contribution to high income, sustainability and inclusiveness.
For the next five years, these sectors would include oil and gas, palm oil and related products, financial services, wholesale and retail, tourism, information and communications technology, education, electrical and electronics, business services, private healthcare, agriculture and greater Kuala Lumpur.
The oil and gas industry, which contributed 13.1 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) last year, could further develop not only its oil field services and equipment (OFSE) but also logistics, as Malaysia is one of the world's largest owner and operator of LNG carriers.
The EPU says to leverage on the industry's potential, the government will increase its international market access, enhance skills training in partnership with industry and enhance linkages in the downstream industries to optimise resources, facilities and services.
It also seeks to expand opportunities in logistics and maritime business activities as well as strengthen the industry's related professional services and creating international champions such as in OFSE, those related to deep water extraction and integrated service providers.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tabled the 10MP in the Dewan Rakyat today.
The EPU also says in line with the target of increasing the palm oil industry's output to RM21.9 billion to GDP with export earnings of RM69.3 billion, the government would among others, promote Malaysia as a global hub for palm oil and a prefered destination for foreign investments in areas such as oleochemical based products, bulking facilities, and research and development (R&D).
The government has also targeted to strengthen the financial services and has aimed to grow the finance and insurance sectors to 8.3 per cent and 12.7 percent each to the GDP.
This says the EPU, will be done by formulating a new financial sector blueprint to evolve the finance sector and address structural issues within the general insurance industry via consolidation and rationalisation.
As for the wholesale and retail industry, the government aims to modernise and ransform it to be more efficient with higher quality services to consumers.
This, says the EPU, is in line with the target of the industry contributing 15.1 per cent of GDP in 2015, and includes liberalising it and encouraging consolidation.
According to the EPU, to achieve the tourism industry's contribution of RM115 billion to GDP with two million jobs in 2015, the government aims to attract a larger share of high spend travellers and capture a higher share of high growth segments, particularly from Russia, India, China and the Middle East.
As for information and communications technology (ICT), MSC Malaysia would identify and support the niche areas in software and e-solutions, creative multimedia, shared services and outsourcing as well as e-business.
The foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy is expected to attract multinational corporations (MNCs) to anchor these selected focus areas with clusters of knowledge-based small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around it.
During the plan period, the EPU says the government would focus on developing key enablers of electrical and electronics (E&E), such as upskilling existing talent and increasing supply of relevant talent, strengthening the R&D ecosystem, growing the domestic vendor base and establishing infrastructure.
In achieving the target to increase the business services sector's contribution to 3.3 per cent of GDP by 2015, the government would focus on further developing construction related and environmental management services.
In speaking about healthcare, the EPU in its report says for private healthcare, the government aims to grow revenue from healthcare travel by 10 per cent annually and make Malaysia the prefered healthcare destination in the region.
In agriculture, special focus would be given to high value activities including swiflet farming, aquaculture, seaweed and herb and spices, to increase the sector's contribution to GDP to two per cent by 2015.
On food security, the EPU says it would be strategically addressed to ensure the availability, accessibility and affordability of food, particularly rice for the general public.
Lastly, to position greater Kuala Lumpur as a world-class city, a combination of economic growth and liveability strategies would be required.
This includes establishing the Kuala Lumpur International Financial District as a global financial centre especially for Islamic Finance, and transforming the urban public transportation to ensure seamless interconnectivity links.
The EPU says, besides the NKEAs, the economic development of regions would be accelerated under the 10MP by focusing around a limited number of high-density clusters in the corridors that have sector and geographic advantages.
Among others, it stated, the government would identify anchor investors to spearhead development of the corridors and refocus corridor authorities on smaller key industry clusters within localised geographies.
