Malaysia's March exports surge 31% y/y, fastest in nearly four years

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's exports jumped 31% in March from a year earlier, rising at their fastest pace in nearly four years, as the Southeast Asian country continued to shake off the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed on Wednesday.

The jump last month was the highest since May 2017, when exports had risen 32.5%, and beat analysts' expectations of a 22.9% growth. In February, exports grew 17.6%.

March imports rose 19.2% from a year earlier, compared to a 12.7% rise in the previous month, data from the Statistics Department showed. Analysts were expecting an 18% expansion.

Malaysia's trade surplus widened to 24.2 billion ringgit ($5.90 billion) last month from 17.9 billion ringgit in February. Analysts had estimated it at 18.8 billion ringgit.

($1 = 4.1010 ringgit)