KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 3 — Malaysia’s trade surplus in January to November 2019 expanded by 10.6 per cent to RM124.74 billion compared to RM112.82 billion registered for the same period of 2018, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry said.
It was the largest trade surplus recorded for the period of January to November since 2009.
However, compared to October 2019, Malaysia’s imports logged a growth of 1.4 per cent while exports, total trade and trade surplus declined by 10.8 per cent, 5.4 per cent and 62.3 per cent, respectively.
“Against the backdrop of challenging global economic conditions and ongoing trade tensions, Malaysia’s total trade over the past 11 months however, slipped three per cent to RM1.68 trillion.
“Lower trade was recorded with Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Japan and Thailand. Meanwhile, higher trade was registered with the United States (US), the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Philippines and the United Kingdom (UK),” it said in a statement.
MITI noted that exports during this period registered a decrease of 2.1 per cent to RM899.93 billion and imports contracted by 3.9 per cent to RM775.19 billion.
Total trade in November 2019 decreased by 4.6 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to RM155.06 billion.
Exports totalled RM80.8 billion, down 5.5 per cent, while imports amounted to RM74.26 billion, a decline of 3.6 per cent.
Total imports in November 2019 dropped by 3.6 per cent to RM74.26 billion from RM77.05 billion in November 2018. The three main categories of imports by end-use, which accounted for 77.5 per cent of total imports, were intermediate goods, capital goods and consumption goods.
Trade surplus in November 2019 was valued at RM6.54 billion, dipping by 23.1 per cent from the RM8.5 billion registered in November 2018.
The November trade surplus marked the 265th consecutive month of surplus since November 1997. — Bernama
