KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's trade breaches the RM2 trillion mark for the first time, in just 11 months, with economists saying the latest November figures are more robust than expected.
The stellar figures also suggested that the country's economy was entering recovery and then stabilisation modes, they said.
The country's trade surpassed RM2 trillion in the January-November 2021 period, expanding 24.6 per cent to RM2.01 trillion compared to the same period last year, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said.
Exports increased 25.7 per cent to RM1.12 trillion, while imports rose 23.3 per cent to RM894.42 billion and trade surplus edged up 36.2 per cent to RM221.53 billion.
Trade, exports, imports and trade surplus registered the highest value for the period, Azmin said.
Last month alone, the country's total trade expanded 34.9 per cent to RM205.5 billion compared to November 2020, breaching RM200 billion mark for the second time in a row.
This was the 10th consecutive month of double-digit growth since February 2021, Azmin said in a statement today.
Malaysia's exports rose 32.4 per cent to RM112.2 billion, the 15th consecutive month of year-on-year (y-o-y) expansion since September 2020.
Imports was higher by 38 per cent to RM93.3 billion and trade surplus increased 10.5 per cent to RM18.9 billion.
Trade and imports recorded highest monthly value.
Taking into account the strong growth in the recent months, MIDF Research has revised up its exports and imports growth projection for the year 2021 to 24.5 per cent (previous: 19.8 per cent) and 23 per cent (previous: 18.9 per cent) respectively.
"The performance of foreign trade has been more robust than expected, and this will contribute positively to the economic recovery in the fourth quarter of 2021," it said today.
Juwai IQI chief economists Shan Saeed said the stellar numbers reflected the return of economic confidence.
"Despite global economic fragilities and bazooka in the equities and bond markets, Malaysia has been able to come out much stronger by getting 97 per cent adult population vaccinated, trade and commerce touched over RM2 trillion and diplomatic relationship remained strong with key economies.
"The government has played her card smartly by an interplay between epidemiology and economics, thus maintaining macroeconomic stability and putting the growth mode back on the track," he told the New Straits Times today.
Bank Islam chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the figures indicated a few points.
The country is a trade dependent economy and therefore, the global economic recovery will immediately benefitting its citizens by way of investments and job creation.
Afzanizam expects December's trade statistics to be fairly decent but the flood situation could, to some degree, affect the momentum as key states such as Selangor had been badly affected by the flash floods.
"Another risk factors obviously the Covid-19 given that certain jurisdiction has implemented stricter human mobility such as those in Europe and Zero Covid-19 policy in China. So the Omicron variant could potentially disrupt the external demand recovery," he said.
Afzanizam said besides that, it was critically important that the country to constantly upgrade itself via innovation given that the industry landscape will continue to evolve and competitive.
"This is important as the country is home to various multinational corporations which had their presence for many decades such as those in the electrical and electronics, chemical and oil and gas among others.
"Ensuring that our local talent pool to meet the industries demand is also crucial. We have seen good camaraderies between the international semiconductor players in Penang with the local universities in respect to research and development. So we should inculcate such culture in other industries too so that the transfers of knowledge can happen more effectively," he said.