KL's trade deficit widens

KL's trade deficit widens

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's trade deficit in the year to May widened to 3.4 billion ringgit (US$1.4 billion) from 983.7 million ringgit the same period a year ago, as imports continued to outpace exports, official data showed yesterday.

The Statistics Department said in its May external trade summary that the higher deficit was due to a larger increase of 25.5 percent in imports against a 21.9 percent rise in exports.

Imports rose to 73.6 billion ringgit, while exports amounted to 70.3 billion ringgit in the five-month period, the department said.

In May alone, the trade deficit rose to 1.3 billion ringgit from a deficit of 301.6 million ringgit a month earlier.

Malaysia's imports were mainly sourced from Japan, the United States, Singapore, Taiwan, Germany and South Korea, which together account for 69.3 percent of Malaysia's total trade purchases overseass.

Exports were mainly to Singapore, the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Britain and Thailand, which together absorbed 66.4 percent of Malaysia's total sales overseas.