trade policy review: mALAYSIA

Further trade-related reforms would help long-term economic growth

Between 2005 and 2008, Malaysia's economy continued to grow steadily although the pace of growth slowed in 2008 and in particular in the first quarter of 2009 reflecting the global financial crisis and associated sharp fall in exports, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Malaysia.

Among the structural measures taken by the Government was the relaxation of restrictions on foreign investment in services, a reflection of the authorities' efforts to promote the services sector with the goal of increasing services' share of GDP from around half to 60% by 2020, and reduce reliance on manufactured exports.

The report says that a more liberal trade and investment regime, as has recently been adopted in services, would contribute greatly to Malaysia's long-term economic growth. It also says that an early recovery of the Malaysian economy depends not only on prudent macroeconomic policies but also on structural reforms, like promoting competition, and further liberalization in the services sector and moving up the value chain in manufacturing.

The report, along with policy statement by the Government of Malaysia, will be the basis for the fifth Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Malaysia by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 25 and 27 January 2010.

The following documents are available in MS Word format on the WTO web-site. They can be downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/tpr_e/tp325_e.htm