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Malaysia's exports may fall 4 percent in 2009, minister says
Bloomberg - February 23, 2009
Angus Whitley – Malaysia's exports may fall as much as 4 percent this year as demand for the Southeast Asian nation's electronics slumps amid the global recession, the government said.
Overseas sales of made-in-Malaysia products – mostly electrical components, palm oil and crude oil – may increase 0.5 percent at best in 2009, Minister of International Trade & Industry Muhyiddin Yassin said. Exports rose 9.6 percent in 2008.
"The economic situation on the global front is very bad," Muhyiddin told reporters today in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia's trade performance is "very difficult" to predict this year, he said.
Demand for electrical and electronics goods, which account for about 38 percent of Malaysia's exports, is drying up as consumers worldwide spend less. Malaysia's government is due to propose a second stimulus plan to parliament on March 10 in a bid to avoid entering a recession.
The government has said the second plan will be larger than a package unveiled in November worth 7 billion ringgit ($1.9 billion), joining countries from China to Thailand in expanding budgets to counter the global economic slowdown.
Muhyiddin said today he has asked the finance ministry to include in the package grants for small businesses, cuts in sales and corporate taxes, and a reduction in contributions by employers to the country's biggest pension fund.
The government may announce a stimulus of between 10 billion ringgit and 15 billion ringgit that gives tax breaks to small and medium-sized businesses, RHB Research Institute Sdn. said today.
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