The country's November trade surplus rose 40 percent from last year and was up 15 percent from the previous month but exports slowed towards the year-end, the trade ministry said today.

Malaysia posted a surplus of RM5.58 billion in November, up from RM4.84 billion in October, the ministry said in preliminary figures released here.

November's figure also beat the RM3.98 billion recorded in the same month in 2001 and marked the country's 61st consecutive monthly surplus since November 1997, it said.

In a statement, the ministry said exports eased to RM31.13 billion, down 2.5 percent from RM31.92 billion in October. Imports slid at a faster pace of 5.6 percent to RM25.55 billion from RM27 billion.

Higher exports of electrical and electronic products, machinery, rubber products and transport equipment offset declines particularly in exports of palm oil, crude petroleum and refined petroleum products, it said.

Electrical and electronic exports were up 0.7 percent from October to RM17 billion and remained the top revenue earner, accounting for almost 55 percent of total exports in November.

Exports to US down

Top export markets were the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the United States, the European Union, Japan, Hong Kong and China, which jointly contributed 80 percent of total exports.

Exports to Asean, the US and EU declined but those to Japan, Hong Kong, China and West Asia increased.

Exports to the US, which made-up 16.8 percent of the total, dipped seven percent month-on-month to 5.2 billion due to lower exports of electrical and electronic products, palm oil, optical and scientific equipment,

Total imports in November fell 5.7 percent from a month earlier to RM25.5 billion due to an 8.5 percent decline in imports of intermediate goods to RM17.90 billion.

Imports of capital goods rose seven percent to RM3.80 billion while consumption goods grew three percent to RM1.80 billion.

For the 11 months to November, Malaysia's trade surplus fell 5.57 percent year-on-year to RM46.62 billion, with total exports up six percent to RM326.09 billion and imports rising eight percent to RM279.47 billion.

In 2001, Malaysia's trade surplus fell 13 percent to RM53.73 billion due to the effects of the US downturn.

But the government said the economy was on track to recover to grow between four and five percent in 2002 amid a pick up in external demand, domestic consumption and investment. — AFP