Services Sector To Do Better This Year

Services Sector To Do Better This Year




KUALA LUMPUR, June 29 (Bernama) -- The deficit in the country's services trade is expected to see further improvement this year with increased focus on services development and enhanced domestic capacity, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) says.

"The Visit Malaysia Year 2007, greater outsourcing opportunities, increasing port throughput and higher revenue from Islamic financial services expansion would enhance exports of services," MITI said in the Malaysia International Trade and Industry Report 2006 released here Friday.

Under the Third Industrial Master Plan (IMP3) two national councils -- Malaysian Services Development Council and the Malaysian Logistics Council have been established to coordinate the promotion and development of the targeted services sector.

Enhance domestic capacity would reduce import growth to some extent, it said.

The services sector account for the largest share of Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with 51.8 percent contribution last year, with a growth rate of 7.2 percent.

It was estimated that about 5.7 million workers or 51.3 percent of the workforce were employed in the services sector. Non-government services were estimated to account for 44.7 percent of GDP and 41.8 percent of the total employment last year.

Last year, the finance, insurance, real estate and business services maintained their position as the leading sub-sectors, contributing an estimated 14.8 percent or RM70.2 billion to GDP.

This was followed by wholesale and retail trade, hotels and restaurants with RM65.2 billion or 13.7 percent, and transport, storage and communications RM34.8 billion or 7.3 percent.

-- BERNAMA