services and product industry with a growth rate
of 8.8% as shown in Figure 11.
It is interesting to note that the electrical
and electronics suffered negative growth. This
is probably due to foreign investments shifting
towards low income countries such as China, India
and Vietnam (where wages are lower), indicating
that Malaysia cannot rely solely on manufacturing
and has lost its competitive edge in this sector.
Although the oil and gas industry contributes a
huge chunk of the country’s Gross National Income
(GNI) its growth rate is low and furthermore this
resource is finite and will decrease over time.
According to the Economic Transformation
Plan (ETP) Roadmap (as shown in Figures 12) the
engineering services sub-sector contributed 9% to
the country’s sub-segment share of GDP or 0.38%
share of GDP in the 2000-2009 period with the
second highest growth rate.
In addition, the sub-sector contribution to GDP
from engineering services is the second highest
amongst other business services.
Further studies under the ETP Roadmap
and by the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) have
identified high growth potential in civil and
mechanical engineering, oil and gas engineering
and environmental engineering. Real growth in
professional engineering services is expected
to contribute towards Malaysia’s goal to achieve
Gross National Income per capita of US$15,000
by year 2020.
The studies undertaken as shown in Figure 13
indicate that professional engineering services
have a high contributory impact on the country’s
GNI. More importantly the engineering sector has
a high ability to compete when compared with
the other services. This largely due to the strong
engineering education system in place and BEM’s
Figure 13 – High Impact of Engineering Services
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