KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s exports tumbled 23.8% in April from a year earlier, the steepest fall in a decade, as the Covid-19 pandemic badly disrupted the global supply chain, the government said on Thursday.
The fall to RM64.92 bil was much wider than a 15.1% contraction forecast by analysts.
Imports shrank by 8% to RM68.42 bil, data from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) showed. Analysts had expected a fall of 14.4%.
“Malaysia’s exports are expected to improve in the coming months as the government has allowed more industries to resume operations and at full operating capacity since May 4,” MITI minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said in a statement.
The country swung to a trade deficit of RM3.5 bil in April after 269 straight months of surplus, the government said. – June 4, 2020, Reuters
