Malaysia’s trade to grow at 4.5 and 5.1 per cent this year

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Malaysia’s trade sector will benefit from the post-pandemic recovery as countries strive to keep their economies open and vaccination progress picked up with better access to the vaccines, analysts observed.

KUCHING: Malaysia’s exports and imports have been forecast by analysts to grow at 4.5 and 5.1 per cent, respectively, this year.

The research arm of MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd (MIDF Research) foresees the trade sector will continue to grow this year, but the pace of growth will be at more normal levels after the strong growth last year.

“We forecast for exports to grow at 4.5 per cent, backed by an encouraging outlook for the global demand of electrical and electronic (E&E) products and commodities such as palm oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and petroleum,” MIDF Research said.

“Meanwhile, we expect imports to grow at 5.1 per cent driven by the recovery in domestic spending and stronger business activity.”

Looking ahead, MIDF Research opined that the government will avoid re-imposing another full lockdown which would weigh down on the country’s economic growth.

Despite its optimism on the growth outlook, the research arm viewed slowdown in China, tighter Covid-19 restrictions in other countries, prolonged supply disruptions, and rising production costs as several downside risks to the business and trade outlook this year.

“Overall, we expect Malaysia’s trade sector will benefit from the post-pandemic recovery as countries strive to keep their economies open and vaccination progress picked up with better access to the
vaccines.”