Malaysia's total trade grows to RM830.23 billion

Malaysia's total trade grew by 7.9 per cent to RM830.23 billion between January and August, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said. He said exports expanded by 7.4 per cent to RM454.91 billion while imports increased by 8.5 per cent to RM375.53 billion. A surplus of RM79.58 billion was recorded during the period, he said in his keynote address at the Sabah Domestic Investment seminar. Mustapa said top trading nations during the eight-month period were China, Singapore, Japan and the United States. He said the manufacturing sector, the largest contributor for the country''''s exports, accounted for more than 86.3 per cent of Malaysia''s total exports. Asean and China will be key destinations for Malaysia''s exports for the rest of this year. Mustapa said total approved investments in the manufacturing sector totalled RM35.7 billion involving 585 projects during the period. Approved investments were mainly in electronics and electrical products, basic metal products, chemical and chemical products, transport equipment and fabricated metal products, he said. He said approvals in the manufacturing sector are expected to create 67,988 employment opportunities including for skilled personnel. Approved investments in the manufacturing sector for Sabah between January and August were worth RM692.3 million. On the Economic Transformation Programme, Mustapa said the target to achieve six per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth per annum over the next 10 years, increasing gross national income (GNI) per capita from RM23,000 to RM48,000 and the creation of 3.3 million jobs would ultimately require RM1.4 trillion total investments between now and 2020. Of this amount, RM1.28 trillion will come from private investments and RM940 billion from domestic sources.