Female employment has increased fast, but jobs are precarious
Malaysia needs to become greener
Barriers to competition are still high
Digitalisation boosts productivity
Digital infrastructure needs to be enhanced
Malaysia was hard hit by the COVID-19 outbreak, but it has recovered relatively fast
Recent macroeconomic developments
Malaysia has become a more domestic-demand-driven economy
Private consumption has become a key component in the economy
Exports by destination and products
Mobility has been severely restricted
Malaysia seeks to control the COVID-19 outbreak
Malaysia has imposed severe restrictions on economic activities
Malaysia’s public health capacity is relatively high, and vaccination has picked up
Monetary policy has reacted promptly to the economic disruption
Recent developments in financial markets
The pandemic has rapidly worsened the fiscal position
Ageing-related spending will call for offsetting fiscal measures
Malaysia’s social spending is low relative to total expenditure
Inequality has declined, but the tax and transfer system needs to be more efficient
Malaysia's tax revenue is low and has declined
Malaysia has stepped up its anti-corruption efforts
Malaysia's anti-money laundering has progressed
Malaysia's female labour participation rate has increased rapidly
The pandemic has affected females and young workers disproportionately
The job recovery of the self-employed has been weaker than for regular employees
Female self-employed workers increased, but social protection is weak
Poverty rates are high among elderly people
Many young workers have not yet come back to the labour market
Unemployment rates vary between different generations
Malaysia provides a significant number of jobs for non-Malaysian citizens
Malaysia’s environment performance has improved, but more could be done
More liberalisation in the electricity market can be conducive to green growth
Malaysia needs to boost its labour productivity growth
Barriers to competition are high in Malaysia
Structural reforms are an ongoing process
Administrative burdens on start-ups are relatively high in Malaysia
Licences and permits to start a business are still burdensome in Malaysia
Lowering administrative burdens would stimulate new business creation
Improving insolvency regimes further could help stimulate business dynamism
Malaysia performs well in regulatory assessment
The share of services has increased rapidly
Several network sectors are strictly regulated in Malaysia
Malaysia's transport markets are more restrictive than those of OECD countries
Less restriction in professional services would foster productivity
Malaysia's retail services market is more restrictive than OECD countries
Online sales keep expanding during the pandemic
Digital uptake in Malaysia's businesses was evolving before the pandemic
In the services sector, SMEs adopting digital tools show higher labour productivity
Malaysia is open to digital trade, but could be more open to computer services
Malaysia is advanced in mobile broadband subscriptions, but less in fixed broadband
Malaysia’s telecom market liberalisation has been progressing
Technology advance has changed the landscape of jobs
Demand for skilled jobs was robust during the pandemic
Demand for high digital skills would continue to increase
The pandemic has forced many workers to telework
Southeast Asian countries have experienced work from home during the pandemic
A number of managers and workers have positive views on teleworking
Managers find many obstacles to teleworking
Pandemic-induced teleworking will not continue in Malaysia while other countries will
Digital infrastructure is a major obstacle to teleworking in Malaysia
Annex Figure 2.A.1. Productivity of the accommodation sector could be further improved