The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) of Malaysia said it expects 2015 to be a “challenging” year as it currently reviews the trade outlook, while urging businesses to raise their export competitiveness.
In a release on the MITI website, Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said a team of experts from the ministry is now working on the trade forecast figures for this year.
“The team is looking at the impact on current oil prices, economy, balance of payments, fiscal deficit as well as the Goods and Services Tax. The figures would be announced in several weeks’ time,” he said.
“2015 is a challenging year but I don’t want to pre-empt as more detailed analyses [are] needed to be done,” Mustapa said after the recent launching of the Malaysian Association of ASEAN Young Entrepreneurs (MAAYE).
He said the ministry would revisit its forecast figures on foreign direct investments and export value for electrical and electronic products in view of the current ringgit’s performance.
“The ringgit has pluses and minuses in terms of impact. We will do more detailed calculation,” he said.
Mustapa said Malaysia’s exports in November 2014 rose by 2.1 percent to RM63.73 billion (US$17.84 billion), the highest ever recorded for November.
“The trade surplus of RM11.13 billion registered during the month was the highest value since November 2011,” he said.
On MAAYE, Mustapa said it would connect young Malaysian entrepreneurs with their counterparts in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) more effectively through official channels.
“Such connectivity will contribute significantly to the strengthening of our small and medium enterprises sector, the primary economic driver for the ASEAN Economic Community,” he said.
“The ministry and its agencies are committed to assist the MAAYE to promote Malaysia as the one-stop center for budding young entrepreneurs,” he said.
Shift to an export orientation
For his part, MITI ASEAN Economic Cooperation division senior director P Ravidran said that with the market liberalization, local companies, both big and small, need to “up their game” and gear up for competition with the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) this year.
“The government has put in place movements to remove barriers to trade, so it’s up to the private sector to take advantage and adjust their business models.”
He added that local companies could not just rely on the domestic market for growth. “You have to export and with the removal of barriers to trade, it’s not just for the big companies to benefit, but also small and medium-sized enterprises.”
The AEC will be announced in November this year during the 27th ASEAN Summit.
Ravidran also noted that the local logistics sector could benefit significantly from the AEC. “Logistics is one of the 12 priority integration sectors in ASEAN. You have to move cargo efficiently and that saves cost for businesses. So logistics shall and will remain an important component of international trade.”
Photo: Azreey
