KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 28 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia’s exports recovery remained firm in November amid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases globally, according to MIDF Research.
In a note Monday, the research house said Malaysia’s exports had been improving steadily since the initial shocks from the pandemic in April and May, in line with the resumption of activities globally and benefiting from China’s recovery, the country’s main trading partner.
For this year, the research firm has revised exports and imports growth forecast to -2.5 and -6.8 per cent, respectively.
“Year-to-date, exports fell -2.6 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) surpassing our initial forecast of -3.5 per cent y-o-y for this year.
“Meanwhile, imports recovery has been sluggish, continuously recording negative growth since the trough in May, mainly due to weak performance of both intermediate and capital goods suggesting that most local manufacturers remained in pessimistic mode,” it said.
MIDF Research added that year-to-date, imports declined -7.0 per cent y-o-y, far from its initial forecast of -5.1 per cent y-o-y.
“Hence, we revised our exports growth forecast for 2020 to -2.5 per cent y-o-y, better than initially expected, and imports growth forecast to -6.8 per cent y-o-y, indicating slower performance than anticipated earlier,” it said.
Nevertheless, for 2021, MIDF Research foresees both exports and imports to rebound to +5.3 and +6.0 per cent y-o-y, respectively, on the back of international trade recovery.
— NNN-BERNAMA