Malaysia's economy is on track to meet a 3.5 percent growth forecast for this year despite strong exports posted for March, a top economic official said Tuesday.

"(There's) no change in our official forecast," said Mustapa Mohamed, executive director of the National Economic Action Council, which was established to steer the economy into recovery.

However analysts say Malaysia's economy could grow at a higher rate than the official forecast.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently said strong exports posted for March would enhance Malaysia's growth and that the upturn in global demand suggested the US and world economies are recovering.

"The turnaround in the US economy and other countries will help our economy," Mahathir said.

Asked if he expected growth to be higher than the official forecast, Mustapa said: "Not at this point in time."

Mustapa declined to provide an outlook for first quarter gross domestic product numbers, expected to be announced by month-end, but cited March trade surplus data as one of the positive indicators that economic recovery was on track.

"In the context of 3.5 percent (GDP) growth, what we've achieved so far is quite credible," he said.

Top five export destinations

Malaysia's trade surplus soared 34.2 percent in March from the month before, boosted by electrical and electronic products, government statistics showed recently.

The country posted a surplus of RM5.1 billion in March from RM3.8 billion in February, marking the 53rd consecutive monthly trade surplus since November 1997.

The US, Singapore, Japan, China and Hong Kong were the top five export destinations, jointly accounting for 59.5 percent of total exports in March.

Malaysia posted a trade surplus of RM13.3 billion for the first quarter of 2002, with total exports standing at RM82.5 billion and imports at RM69.2 billion.

Last year, Malaysia's trade surplus dipped 13.1 percent to RM53.73 billion due to the effects of the US recession.