Malaysia's exports growth accelerates in August

Malaysia's trade surplus increased in August to MYR 21.4bn from MYR 13.8bn in the previous month, as the exports' value barely changed, while imports declined on a monthly basis. Compared to last year, however, exports growth accelerated substantially. According to the data from the Statistics Department, the exports grew by 18.4% y/y compared to 5% y/y increase in the previous month. Imports growth decelerated to 12.5% y/y in August from 23.9% y/y in July.

Malaysia is witnessing an easing of the pandemic-related restrictions, which provides support to the economic recovery. Exports to all major trading partners increased, with the top 5 destinations for Malaysian products in August being China, Singapore, the US, the EU and Japan.