SME Directory of Malaysia, Malaysia Business Portal

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SMEs which represent around 99.2% of total business establishments in Malaysia and provide employment for about 56% of the total workforce are an important source of growth for the nation. They will play a major role in Malaysia’s new economic model which envisions transforming Malaysia from a middle-income economy to a high-income economy.

2010 continues to be a challenging year for Malaysian SMEs as economies around the world strive to recover from the global economic and financial crisis. While the government put in place measures to assist local businesses and cushion the impact, continued success and the viability of existing businesses are dependent on the proactive measures taken by SMEs.

Past SME Performance

The Annual SME Report 2008 highlighted that despite the economic slowdown, SMEs in the manufacturing sector continued to maintain high productivity in 2008 led mainly by the export-oriented industries. Similarly, productivity in the services and agriculture sectors continued to increase with the former supported by the transport, trade and finance subsectors, while the latter was encouraged by high commodity prices resulting in revitalisation of idle land. The report emphasised on the instrumental role of ICT such as internet, e-payments and e-commerce in enhancing efficiency, productivity and performance of SMEs. Output and productivity in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors are shown in the tables below.

Malaysia’s target is to increase the contribution of SMEs to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the 32% charted in 2005 to 37%, exports from 19% to 22% and employment from 56% to 57% in 2010.