Malaysian imports leapt 38.4 percent in the year through June to hit a record 34.6 billion ringgit ($9.1 billion) as factories cranked up output to meet overseas demand, according to official data released on Tuesday.
But economists said import growth, which beat their expectations, had probably now peaked as the global appetite for electronics, Malaysia's main export, lessened amid concerns the technology sector might slow in the second half of this year.
"What we are seeing now is the global demand for electronics has already peaked," said Wong Chee Seng, an economist at DBS Bank.
Economists said a cooling US economy, Malaysia's biggest trading partner, could also slow imports in a country where almost three quarters of imported goods are used to make finished exports.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Tuesday Malaysia's trade-dependent economy stood a good chance of meeting, if not exceeding, official growth forecasts of 6.0 to 6.5 percent for calendar 2004. The economy grew 5.3 percent in 2003.
Official data showed exports also grew by a quicker-than-expected 22.2 percent to 39.75 billion ringgit in the year through June, boosted by demand from the United States and Hong Kong.
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