Xifres de comerç exterior de Malàisia

Foreign Trade in Figures

Malaysia is well known for its openness to international trade. Foreign trade represented 131% of the country’s GDP in 2022 (World Bank, 2023) making the country vulnerable to external demand. The country mainly exports electrical and electronic equipment (34% of total exports in 2021), Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products (12%), machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers (8.4%), animal (6.6%) and rubbers (5.6%). It mainly imports electrical and electronic equipment (30%), Mineral fuels, oils, distillation products (13%), machinery, nuclear reactors, boilers (9.1%) and plastics with 4% (World Bank, 2023). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is forecasting a decrease of 1.3% in the volume of exports of goods and services of the country in 2023, after an increase of 6.3% in 2022, and a sharpe decrease of more than 4.5% of its imports, after an increase of 10.6% in 2022.

In 2022, Malaysia's main trade partners were China (16% of total exports in 2021), Singapore (14%), United States (12%), Hong Kong (6.4%) and Japan (6.3%). Its main suppliers were China (25% of total imports), Singapore (10%), United States (8.2%) and Japan with 8.1% (World Bank, 2023). Even though exports of electronic equipment suffered from the Chinese slowdown, U.S. demand should stay dynamic and support exports. The government supported the creation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a multilateral free-trade agreement negotiated between Asia-Pacific and North American countries. The treaty, signed by Malaysia and eleven other nations in order to boost inter-regional trade, was renamed as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after the withdrawal of the United States in January 2017. It was signed in March 2018 but Malaysian government has not set any deadline for ratifying. An increasing number of foreign companies are exploring Malaysia as a potential base for regional operations with the CPTPP member markets. On the 15th of November 2020 Malaysia has signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) with 14 other Indo-Pacific countries. This free trade agreement is the largest trade deal in history, covering 30 per cent of the global economy. It includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN : Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) and ASEAN’s free trade agreement partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and Republic of Korea). The RCEP covers goods, services, investment, economic and technical cooperation. It also creates new rules for electronic commerce, intellectual property, government procurement, competition, and small and medium sized enterprises.

According to WTO data, exports of goods amounted in 2021 to USD 299 billion and imports reached USD 238 billion. With regard to services, Malaysia exported USD 20.8 billion worth of services and imported USD 35.3 billion. Malaysia's exports in 2022 registered a sturdy growth of 25% to reach a record high of RM1.6 trillion (373.35 billion USD) surpassing the forecast. Malaysia's export performance in 2022 was buoyed by the continues robust external demand despite concerns over slowing global growth. This was the 24nd consecutive year of trade surplus since 1998.