Another piece of encouraging news. With support from markets as diverse as the European Union, China and the US, Malaysia’s exports jumped 8.8% to RM70.20bil in September from a year ago. This is much higher than the expectations from economists which put the export growth at 3.6%. According to the Statistics department of Malaysia, on a month to month basis, exports rose RM3.7bil (up 5.5%) from RM66.5bil. In seasonally adjusted terms, exports increased 5.2%. Imports grew 7.3% versus the forecasted 3% increase. The rise in exports were to the EU (+RM1.4bil), China (+RM1bil), US (+RM933.5mil), Singapore (+RM923.5mil) and Philippines (+RM618mil). Two ASEAN countries.
Imports grew too, faster than forecast too. It grew by RM5.3bil or 9.6% to RM60.5bil. Higher imports were from countries such as China (+RM2.2bil), Singapore (+RM1bil), US (+RM985.1mil), Vietnam (+RM659.2mil) and Thailand (+RM640.9mil). 3 ASEAN countries! I think we are very integrated to ASEAN now. Electrical and electronics (E&E) products contributed 37.2% to total exports. Always watch this sector because if the numbers are down, lots more retrenchment would be happening. In fact this remains an engine of growth for Malaysia thus far.
Yes, these numbers remain far more encouraging than what many have in their mind. Ringgit, for the first time in such a long time had an ‘UP’ month in October. Bond market has also steadily gained strength. Global funds raise their Malaysian bond holdings too. Earlier: Malaysia: Better signs or better understanding? Is the property market now out of the danger zone? My personal answer? Property market Malaysia has never been in the danger zone or the potential bubble zone. However, it has been really bearish since 2014 and now into the end of 2015. Main reason, negative sentiment and to some extent, the inability for many first-time home buyers to obtain loans. Most of the time, their credit records may not be the best and thus, when they try to stretch it to the limit, most of the time, they would fail. Perhaps they need to relook at the price level they could really afford. Read here: Stay safe, buy within affordability and stop bubble building Happy reading.
written on 5 Nov 2015
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