Malaysia’s economy shows strong growth in 2024

While the long-term trend remains below 100 points, strong domestic demand, wage adjustments, and a strengthening labour market are expected to support continued economic resilience.

Malaysia’s economy ended 2024 on a positive note, with significant growth driven by the manufacturing and services sectors.

The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) has released the Malaysian Economic Statistics Review (MESR) Series 2/2025, highlighting key trends and statistics for the year.

According to statistics, the manufacturing sector in Malaysia saw strong performance in 2024, reaching RM1.9tn in sales, a 4.6% increase from 2023. Key drivers included food, beverage, and tobacco products, which grew by 14.6%, and electrical and electronic products, which rose by 8.7%.

The services sector also performed well, with total revenue hitting RM2.4tn, up by 6.3% from the previous year. This growth was mainly due to a recovery in tourism and related industries. Sectors such as wholesale and retail, food and beverage, and accommodation also contributed to the increase, with revenue for Q4 2024 rising by 6.2%.

Stable inflation and price trends

Inflation in Malaysia remained moderate at 1.7% in December 2024, a slight decrease from 1.8% in November 2024. This was mainly due to modest price increases in categories such as self-care, social protection, and miscellaneous goods and services (3.2%), recreation, sports, and culture (1.7%), health (1.1%), and decoration, hardware, and household maintenance (0.4%).

Meanwhile, the producer price index (PPI) rose by 0.5%, driven by increases in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sector (23.8%), as well as in electricity and gas supply (0.9%) and water supply (6.7%).

Strong trade and labour market
Malaysia’s external trade continued to grow in 2024, with total trade rising by 14.6% to RM257.9bn from December 2024. Exports increased by 7.3%, reaching RM393bn, while imports grew by 5.3%, totalling RM346.9bn.

Looking at the labour market, employment grew by 77,400 people in the fourth quarter, bringing the total to 16.79 million. The unemployment rate remained stable at 3.1%, while the number of jobs in the economy increased by 1.3%, reaching 9.05mn.

Dato' Sri Dr. Mohd Uzir Mahidin, Chief Statistician Malaysia, highlighted that Malaysia's Leading Index (PI) indicated positive economic growth in December 2024, rising by 3.1% year-on-year and 0.8% month-on-month.

While the long-term trend remains below 100 points, strong domestic demand, wage adjustments, and a strengthening labour market are expected to support continued economic resilience.

Lead image / Department of Statistics, Malaysia