KUALA LUMPUR, April 19 – The Department of Statistics Malaysia will release a new publication next year to gauge the services sector’s contribution to the economy. Chief Statistician Dr Abdul Rahman Hasan said the monthly publication, titled “Index of Services”, would indicate to what extent the country had achieved the 65 per cent target contribution by the services sector to the gross domestic product (GDP).
“Economists can also benefit from these statistics in making their estimates on the country’s GDP,” he told Bernama after signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Thursday to continue supplying periodic publications on economic statistics to the Malaysian National News Agency.
At the signing, Bernama was represented by General Manager Datuk Yong Soo Heong, while Abdul Rahman signed on the department’s behalf. The event was witnessed by Bernama chairman Datuk Abdul Rahman Sulaiman. Also present were Editor-in-Chief Datuk Zulkefli Salleh and Deputy Editor-in-Chief (Bernama Economic Service) Datuk Zakaria Abd Wahab.
Dr Abdul Rahman also highlighted the department’s findings on household income in Malaysia, which were released on March 27, which saw an increase from RM4,025 per household in 2009 to RM5,000 per household last year. He said the poverty rate has also fell to 1.7 per cent from 3.8 per cent in the same period, surpassing the government’s target of reducing the rate to two per cent by 2015.
“We are very lucky because our unemployment rate is only at 3.1 per cent, which is more or less full employment and that employment opportunities in the country are vast,” he said.
On the MoU with Bernama, Dr Abdul Rahman said the department would leverage on the news agency’s wide base of subscribers through its Library and Infolink Service (BLIS).
“When the news is carried by Bernama subscribers, we will also benefit from this when the statistics are attributed to the department, thus making it easier for us to carry our field research as the public and industry players are more familiar with our role,” he added.
Yong, in his speech, said it was imperative to present the statistics in a readable and informative manner, being one of the ways to inform the outside world what Malaysia has to offer.
“Foreign investors can then make informed decisions about Malaysia with the help of these statistics.
“This is one of the ways Bernama is helping towards achieving Vision 2020. As we move towards emerging as a high-income economy, we need investors to come to give a push to the various economic sectors,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Statistics Department has supplied eight periodic publications on economic figures to Bernama to be fed into its database since the tie-up took effect from June 25, 1996 to 2009. This time, the collaboration has been further enhanced, with the additional 15 new publications from the department, including Key Manpower Statistics, Malaysian Economic Statistics — Time Series, Annual Manufacturing Industry Investigation Report and Accommodation Service Statistics.
BERNAMA
