Economy - overview: Malaysia, a middle income country, transformed itself from 1971 through the late 1990s from a producer of raw materials into an emerging multi-sector economy. Growth is almost exclusively driven by exports - particularly of electronics - and, as a result Malaysia was hard hit by the global economic downturn and the slump in the Information Technology (IT) sector in 2001. GDP in 2001 grew only 0.3% due to an estimated 11% contraction in exports, but a substantial fiscal stimulus package has mitigated the worst of the recession and the economy is expected to grow by 2% to 3% in 2002 as the world economy rebounds. Kuala Lumpur's healthy foreign exchange reserves and relatively small external debt make it unlikely that Malaysia will experience a crisis similar to the crisis of 1997, but the economy remains vulnerable to a more protracted downturn in the US and Japan, top export destinations and key sources of foreign investment.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $200 billion (2001 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 0.3% (2001 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $9,000 (2001 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 12% industry: 40% services: 48% (2001)
Population below poverty line: 8% (1998 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.7% highest 10%: 38.4% (1997 est.)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 49.2 (1997)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.5% (2001 est.)
Labor force: 9.9 million (2001 est.)