By Nur Ashikin Abdul Aziz
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 9 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysia is set to remain as one of Poland’s biggest trade partners in ASEAN this year despite a slowdown in the global economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said Polish Ambassador to Malaysia Krzysztof Dębnicki.
The Ambassador said Malaysia continues to be Poland’s second-biggest trade partner (after Vietnam) in the region in the first half of 2020, with bilateral trade amounting to US$579 million.
“In 2019, Malaysia was Poland’s second-biggest trade partner in ASEAN (after Vietnam) and the value of the bilateral trade in goods reached over US$1.2 billion.”
“In the first half of 2020, Polish – Malaysian trade in goods decreased, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, only by around five per cent, and Malaysian exports to Poland have actually increased during this period by over one per cent,” he told Bernama in an interview at the Embassy, recently.
Poland’s main exports to Malaysia are different types of machinery such as turbines, electronics for data processing and telecommunications, copper alloys, and laboratory equipment.
Meanwhile, Poland’s main imports from Malaysia are electric equipment and electronics, rubber gloves, and machine parts.
Dębnicki said the pandemic has unfortunately deferred at least two possible Polish investments in Malaysia.
“We are doing as much as we can, under the circumstances, to keep Polish businesses interested in doing business with Malaysia and to promote Polish businesses in Malaysia. But the final result depends on the companies and the circumstances,” he said.
The Ambassador said he hoped that travel will gradually resume and contribute to the further development of economic cooperation for both countries.
“Even during the pandemic, we see an increased interest of the private sector to participate in trade missions to Malaysia and inquiries about opportunities to increase cooperation with Poland from Malaysian companies,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dębnicki said the Polish economy is showing a strong performance despite a worldwide slowdown, due to its diverse structure and sound government policy with the priority of protecting jobs.
As part of the government’s “shields”, entrepreneurs and SMEs are supported by (the amount of) PLN100 billion (US$26.59 billion or RM109 billion) which is estimated to have protected up to five million jobs in Poland, he said.
He noted that Poland is currently in a better position than other large Western European countries, with its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) decreasing by only 7.9 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter of this year.
The latest analyses point to a better than anticipated overall decrease of Polish GDP in 2020 – between 2.4 and 3.1 per cent – with a predicted quick recovery and a GDP growth of between four and five per cent in 2021, the Ambassador noted.
— NNN-BERNAMA
