Malaysia's export growth to shrink 3.2%

Blame it on LNY effect.

According to DBS, headline export growth is expected to report a contraction of 3.2% YoY, down from the healthy pace of 3.5% in the previous month. Import growth will remain strong at 11.4%, which translates into a trade balance of MYR 3.4bn for the month.

Here's more:

The numbers are not great but global outlook is improving. Sounds contradictory? No quite. That’s mainly because February trade numbers, particularly export growth, is susceptible to the Lunar New Year effect.

Production and export activities usually slow during the festive period due to the lesser number of working daysin the month plus workers going on vacation leave. So even if the figures today turned out poorer than expected, one should look beyond this transient festive season effect.

As it is, the PMIs of key export markets are inching higher as global economic conditions gradually normalise. This implies a more pronounced pick-up from March onwards.