05 Mar 2021 / 11:46 H. KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia needs to transform into a global exporting player, grow its manufacturing capabilities and create its homegrown multinational companies (MNCs) to break out of the middle-income trap, said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin ( pix). According to the prime minister, in the decade before the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, Malaysia’s cumulative gross domestic product (GDP) growth stood at 8.4 per cent annually, but had fallen to 4.6 per cent in the following two decades since then. “With productivity growth now stagnant, annual per capita income has stalled at about US$10,000 (US$1=RM4.068) for nearly a decade, suggesting Malaysia is ensnared in the middle-income trap,” he said in his opening remarks at the virtual Youth Economic Forum 2021, themed “A Brave New World” today.