OECD Economic Surveys: Malaysia 2019

Basic statistics of Malaysia, 2018
Executive summary
Key Policy Insights
	Malaysia’s economic performance has been very successful, but social and governance challenges remain
		Renewed priorities of structural reform
		Malaysia’s current state of well-being
	Ensuring resilience to maintain growth momentum
		Monetary and financial market policies underpin resilience
		Low-income households are relatively vulnerable to rising cost of living
	Ensuring fiscal sustainability is prioritised
		Building a larger and consistent revenue base to foster inclusiveness
		Consolidating expenditure for strengthening social protection
		Improving public procurement as a basis for maximising expenditure efficiency
		Improving budget process transparency
		Risk management of contingent liabilities needs to be strengthened
		Policy framework of public-private partnership needs to be more transparent
		Strengthening public debt management as key to fiscal sustainability
		Ensuring integrity is key to efficient fiscal system
	Fostering growth and productivity
		Accelerating liberalisation facilitates productivity gains
		Promoting services liberalisation contributes to overall productivity
	Strengthening the policy framework for environmental sustainability and green growth
	References
		Annex 1.A. Key recommendations in the first OECD Economic Assessment of Malaysia (November 2016)
Thematic Chapter
	1.  Reducing skills imbalances to foster productivity growth
		The importance of skills development as a game changer
		The state of skills imbalances in the Malaysian labour market
			Skills imbalances can hamper productivity growth
			Malaysian firms face challenges in getting workers with the right skills
			The labour market faces shortages in a variety of occupations and skills
		Overview of Malaysia’s education performance
			Educational attainment has been on the rise
			Despite success in increasing attainment, educational quality remains a concern
		Improving student outcomes by strengthening teacher quality and practices
			Improving disadvantaged students’ access to quality teachers
			Tapping the potential of the teacher workforce
			Improving teachers’ capacity to teach English
		Strengthening the connection between education and employment
			Fostering collaboration between education institutions and businesses
			Improving career guidance services and preparing students to enter the labour market
		Providing opportunities for up- and re-skilling during working life
			Evidence suggests that Malaysian adults have limited access to training opportunities
			Key policy areas to improve the adult learning system
				Coverage: Bringing down barriers to participation
				Inclusiveness: Underrepresented groups need targeted support
				Aligning adult learning opportunities with labour market needs
				Ensuring that training has the desired impact
				Adequately financing the adult learning system
				Setting up an adult learning governance structure that facilitates coordination between stakeholders
		Making better use of women’s skills
			Women’s labour market participation rate in Malaysia is low
			Reducing barriers to labour market participation for women
				Parents need to be able to take sufficient time off work for childcare responsibilities
				Affordable and reliable childcare services need to be available
				A healthy work-life balance should be facilitated
				Women should have equal access to career progression opportunities
		Moving towards a high–skill equilibrium
			Attracting foreign direct investment (FDI)
			Stimulating entrepreneurship
			Making the most of migration while encouraging the adoption of technology
		References