Malaysia in August chalked up its 82nd consecutive trade surplus and its highest since December 1999 with a total of 8.06 billion ringgit (2.12 billion dollars), the trade ministry said Monday.
The August outcome was up 9.5 percent from 7.36 billion ringgit in July. Exports in August rose 23.7 percent year-on-year but were down 2.2 percent from July to hit 41.44 billion ringgit, led by significant gains in electrical and electronic products, crude petroleum, chemicals and chemical products, refined petroleum products, liquefied natural gas and wood products.
Imports for the month rose 29.1 percent year-on-year to 33.38 billion ringgit but were down 4.7 percent from July, the ministry said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the United States, the European Union, Japan, China and Hong Kong collectively accounted for 80.3 percent of Malaysia's total exports for the month.
In the January to August period, the trade surplus stood at 52.74 billion ringgit, compared with 54.25 billion ringgit in the same period last year.