KUALA LUMPUR–Malaysia’s exports in August jumped 48.2 percent from a year earlier, above expectations, government data showed on Tuesday.
August exports had been forecast to expand 34.4 percent, according to 13 economists surveyed in a Reuters poll.
Imports in the same month grew 67.6 percent from a year earlier, the data showed. Analysts had expected an increase of 49.4 percent.
Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of 16.9 billion ringgit ($3.71 billion) in August.
Malaysia’s economy grew at its fastest annual pace in a year in the second quarter, boosted by expansion in domestic demand and resilient exports, but a slowdown in global growth is expected to pose a risk to the outlook for the rest of 2022.
Gross domestic product (GDP) in April-June surged 8.9 percent from a year earlier, the central bank said. This was faster than the 6.7 percent growth forecast in a Reuters poll and was up from the 5 percent annual rise in the previous quarter.
It was also quicker than any annual rate seen since the second quarter of 2021, when GDP was 16.1 percent higher than a low year-earlier base.
Seasonally adjusted GDP for April-June was up 3.5 percent on the previous three months, when quarterly growth was 3.8 percent.
Malaysia’s economy has been on a strong recovery path since the country reopened its borders in April.
“Going forward, the economy is projected to continue to recover in the second half of 2022, albeit at a more moderate pace amid global headwinds,” central bank governor Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus told a press conference.
