Malaysia February Exports Decline More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - Malaysia's exports in February declined more-than-expected from a year ago, figures from the Department of Statistics showed Friday.

Exports tumbled 9.7 percent year-on-year, while they were expected to fall just 1.4 percent. The annual decline in exports was attributed to lower shipments to China, Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan and the Republic of Korea.

Meanwhile, imports grew 0.4 percent annually, which was less than the 1.7 percent gain forecast by economists. Imports mainly came from China, the EU, Taiwan, Indonesia and Switzerland. The increase in imports was attributed to higher imports of intermediate goods, consumption goods and capital goods.

On a month-on-month basis, exports declined 16.4 percent and fell a seasonally adjusted 9.6 percent. Imports dropped 11 percent and decreased a seasonally adjusted 3.8 percent.

The trade surplus for February was MYR 4.5 billion, which was nearly half of the MYR 8.5 billion expected by economists. A year ago, the trade surplus was MYR 10.4 billion.