Malaysia expects total trade to rise 18% in 2010

The Malaysian government expects the country's total trade to register a growth of 18 percent in 2010 after the government's effort to boost trade.

Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed told reporters here on Tuesday that compared with 2008, the total trade of 2009 had dropped 16.9 percent.

However, total trade value could resume to the 2008 level this year, said the minister, adding that in the first nine months of 2010, the country's total trade had expanded by 23 percent.

Malaysia's total trade reached 1.185 trillion ringgit (384.74 billion U.S. dollars) in 2008.

Several initiatives, including the Economic Transformation Program and the Tenth Malaysia Plan, have been launched by the Malaysian government to lay strong foundation for the country's economy.

The China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement that came into full implementation on Jan. 1, 2010, also helps stimulate trade growth of Malaysia, who is a member country of ASEAN.

According to the minister, total exports and total imports of Malaysia registered growth of 20.4 percent and 26.4 percent respectively in the first nine months of 2010.

Moving forward, Mustapa anticipated that Malaysia's trade would continue to grow in 2011, but at a slower pace as the global and domestic economy showed signs of slowing down.
(Source:xinhua)