KUALA LUMPUR: The Government expects the country’s total trade numbers to expand 2% this year, faster than the 1.2% growth to RM1.47 trillion registered in 2015.
International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said he saw rising trade with neighbouring Asean countries to more than offset the projected slowdown with China.
“We don’t want the momentum to decrease,” he said at a press conference after launching the “Generation of New Exporters” (GenEX) programme yesterday.
Exports grew by 1.9% last year despite a challenging economic environment to reach RM779.95bil, while imports grew by a marginal 0.4% or RM2.71bil to RM685.65bil, Mustapa said.
Malaysia also posted a trade surplus of RM94.29bil last year, a 14.3% rate of growth from 2014’s RM82.48bil, marking the 18th consecutive year that it has recorded a trade surplus.
“We hope to maintain it at this level,” Mustapa said.
Malaysia’s main export partners are China, Singapore, Japan, the United States and Thailand, primarily selling electrical and electronic products, which accounted for 36.3% of total exports.
To encourage more export activity, Mustapa had earlier said in a report that the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) would open up more opportunities for Malaysia’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
He said that the trade pact would increase exports for SMEs, as they would have a new and wider market with other members of the TPPA. He said operation costs for SMEs would also be less due to the decreased import duty, which would lower the cost of importing raw goods.
“From the aspect of Government procurement, bumiputra companies and SMEs will continue to be prioritised,” said Mustapa when tabling the TPPA recently.
To support the motion, the Malaysia External Trade Development Corp (Matrade) has partnered with Generasi Muda Berjaya (GMB) to come up with a Generasi Muda Berjaya of New Exporters (GenEX) programme.
It is aimed at increasing the involvement of bumiputra youth in the export business.
“We will ask Matrade to increase programmes to help boost the country’s exports for 2016 and 2017,” Mustapa said.
GMB will be scouting around for 100 youth-owned companies in Malaysia to be GenEX participants, according to Matrade chief executive officer Datuk Dzulkifli Mahmud.
He added that of the 100 companies, 30 would stand a chance to start exporting their products and services to five countries – the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the Netherlands and Qatar.
