21/10/2011 (The Star) - Malaysia's export figures remained steady at RM454.9bil in the first eight months of the year, said Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim Siang Chai.

He said the positive figures were the result of the country’s resilient economy, high demand in commodity-based products and strong intra-regional trade.

“Our main trading partners are from emerging economies like China, Singapore and Thailand.

“Our main export commodities are timber, food products, palm oil and rubber,” he told Fong Kui Lun (DAP-Bukit Bintang).

Fong wanted to know how much the country was exporting despite the economic downturn in the United States and Europe.

Lim said exports to Asia, except for Japan, accounted for 47.3% of total exports.

“Exports to the United States and the European Union accounted for only 18.9%,” he added.

The ministry also predicted that exports would continue to rise at a “moderate rate” of 6.8% because of slow demand in electrical products for the rest of the year, he added.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk S.K. Devamany said that as at June this year, the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) had recorded cumulative committed investment worth RM2.44bil.

“The ECER performance is as good as that of other corridors in Malaysia,” he told Datuk Mohd Nasir Ibrahim Fikri (BN-Kuala Nerus).

Mohd Nasir had asked the Government to state the investments gained by ECER for the first half of 2011 and its performance compared with the other economic corridors.

Devamany said although the investments were comparatively smaller to Iskandar Malaysia, ECER needed more time to recoup its initial investments.