Malaysian SMEs Have Potential To Contribute More To GDP

PETALING JAYA (Selangor, Malaysia), May 5 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian small and medium enterprise (SME) sector could potentially match its peers in several developed countries that contribute at least half to the gross domestic product (GDP). The local sector, which currently constitutes only 19 per cent of exports, could improve its export capability and subsequently enlarge its slice of the GDP cake, said Malaysian Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, Senator Chew Mei Fun. "Today, out of the 662,030 enterprises in Malaysia, 97.3 per cent (645,136) are SMEs and they employ 57 per cent of the workforce, contributing 32.5 per cent to the GDP. "However, Malaysian SMEs constitute only 19 per cent of exports as compared to several developed countries whose SMEs contribute at least half to the GDP," she said in her keynote at the launching of Platinum Business Awards 2016 here, Thursday. Taking SMEs in these economies as the benchmark, there was clearly a significant potential for SMEs in Malaysia to increase their contribution to the economy," she added. --BERNAMA