KUCHING, Feb 12 — Malaysia’s total trade rose by 5.9 per cent to RM1.5 trillion last year compared with RM1.4 trillion in 2013, said Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
Muhyiddin said export value increased by 6.4 per cent from RM46.1 billion to RM766.1 billion while import value increased by 5.3 per cent from RM34.3 billion to RM683 billion.
He said this at a dinner with Sarawak corporate and industry leaders here tonight.
Muhyiddin said the strong export growth had contributed to the trade surplus for the 17th consecutive year.
“Trade surplus for last year indicated an increase of 16.6 per cent, an improvement compared to the negative growth recorded in 2012 (-22.8 per cent) and in 2013 (-25.7 per cent).
“The manufacturing sector has contributed RM587.3 billion, an increase of seven per cent from RM39.1 billion,” he said.
Muhyiddin said from 2010 until September 2014, a total of 3,966 projects were approved in the country with a capital investment amounting to RM259.9 billion.
“These have generated 432,866 job opportunities,” he said.
For Sarawak, he said, from these projects, 155 were approved with a capital investment of RM35.4 billion.
“These comprise domestic investment of RM8.4 billion and RM26.9 billion in foreign direct investment. These have generated 20,039 job opportunities,” he said.
Muhyiddin said Asean was Malaysia biggest trade partner, which comprised 27 per cent of the total global trade.
“Malaysia’s total trade with Asean in 2014 amounted to RM389.3 billion.
“The country’s exports (to Asean) in 2014 amounted to RM213.8 billion and imports RM175.5 billion,”
Meanwhile, he said, Malaysia would have to address the problem of the shortage of workers.
“We are now relying on over two million registered foreign workers. We also have a huge number of the illegal ones.
“Yet at the same time we continue to have Malaysian school leavers and college and university graduates who are still jobless,” he said. — Bernama
