PUTRAJAYA, 24 Dec 2020 (The Capital Post)- The Department of Statistics, Malaysia (DOSM) have recently published the Malaysian Economic Statistics Review (MESR) Vol.8/2020 which includes The Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and impact of Covid-19 on environment.
Malaysia gained from the FDI spillovers by supporting the enhancement of domestic capital and employment amid the transfer of technology that lead to a better economic performance while the environment also have improved in terms of river water and air indirectly by the implementation of MCO.
The Chief Statistician of Malaysia, Dato Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin stated “Malaysia continues to chart economic recovery despite the current challenging circumstances of COVID-19 pandemic”
Employment rate registered an uptrend from 24.7 thousand people to record 15.96 millions people in October 2020 compared to the previous month.
In terms of export, Malaysia sees a 0.2 % growth year-on-year to record RM 91.1 billion, the second highest monthly exports value registered in 2020 and the main contributors to this growth came from rubber gloves, palm oil based products and electrical and electronic products.
The chief statistician also appreciated the government’s efforts to stabilize the labor market and also encouraged more strategized efforts to promote entrepreneurship among youths which will increase the job creators instead of job seekers.
Tourism based industries nationwide also will see a green light in growth especially in the festive period of Christmas and New Year since the government has lifted the inter-state and district travel ban.
Surprisingly, businesses also see positive circumstances during this pandemic.
“Physical distancing nudged businesses to transform to the simplest and most obvious digital solution to enable business continuity, that is the social media.” said Dr. Uzir Mahidin
“This can be observed by the increase in online purchases which has directly surged the revenue in the post and courier services” he added.
The telecommunication usage also simultaneously increased because traders actively utilize the digital platform for survival of their businesses.
The Chief Statistician concluded that, “Malaysia’s economy is expected to continue its journey to recovery in the early months of 2021 as reflected by the Leading Index (LI) of October 2020.”
He also states it is critical to curb the virus without leaving a large damage to the industry players as they are the backbones of the economy. – The Capital Post