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PRESS RELEASE: PRESS/TPRB/325

TRADE POLICY REVIEW:

Further trade-related reforms would help long-term economic growth

Between 2005 and 2008, Malaysia’s economy continued to grow steadily although the pace of growth slowed in 2008 and in particular in the first quarter of 2009 reflecting the global financial crisis and associated sharp fall in exports, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade policies and practices of Malaysia.

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The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government, will be the basis for the Trade Policy Review (TPR) by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO.

Among the structural measures taken by the Government was the relaxation of restrictions on foreign investment in services, a reflection of the authorities' efforts to promote the services sector with the goal of increasing services' share of GDP from around half to 60% by 2020, and reduce reliance on manufactured exports.

The report says that a more liberal trade and investment regime, as has recently been adopted in services, would contribute greatly to Malaysia's long-term economic growth. It also says that an early recovery of the Malaysian economy depends not only on prudent macroeconomic policies but also on structural reforms, like promoting competition, and further liberalization in the services sector and moving up the value chain in manufacturing.

The report, along with policy statement by the Government of Malaysia, will be the basis for the fifth Trade Policy Review (TPR) of Malaysia by the Trade Policy Review Body of the WTO on 25 and 27 January 2010.

The following documents are available in MS Word format.

• Secretariat report
  > Contents and summary observations
  > Economic environment
  > Trade and investment regimes
  > Trade policies and practices by measure
  > Trade policies by sector
  > Appendix tables
    
• Government report
    

Note  back to top

Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO agreements, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each review, two documents are prepared: a policy statement by the government of the member under review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.

Print copies of previous TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop.

The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press, 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States.

Schedule of forthcoming reviews  back to top

El Salvador: 10 and 12 February 2010
Croatia: 24 and 26 March 2010
Armenia: 6 and 8 April 2010

SEE ALSO    > Full list of previous TPRs

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