Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani reiterated Sunday that Malaysia’s gross domestic product is among the best in ASEAN, despite the global economic slowdown, Yahoo reported. In brushing off negative criticism over the country’s economic position by the opposition, he said based on statistics as of July 31, the economy still grew by 4.1% in the first half of this year, while Singapore registered only 2%. “Our debt to the GDP is only 54.5% compared to Singapore’s 89% and our trade surplus for 2015 at about RM95 billion ($23.23 billion) and RM45 billion for the first six months of this year,” he said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur Sunday. He added that Malaysia’s economy is well diversified with the services sector contributing 54% to the GDP, followed by manufacturing (23%), mining (9%), agriculture (8%) and construction (4%). Johari added that Malaysia’s financial system was very resilient, with the banking sector well-capitalized. “Our capital market is very strong at RM2.8 trillion, equity market RM1.7 trillion and Sukuk/Bond stood at RM1.1 trillion,” he said.
