Malaysia's December exports rise 16.9% y/y, above forecast

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Malaysia's exports rose 16.9% in December, above market expectations, government data showed on Monday. Exports had been expected to grow 8.8%, according to a Reuters poll. Imports in December grew 11.9% from a year earlier, data from the trade ministry showed, verses a 5.2% increase expected by analysts. Malaysia recorded a trade surplus of 19.2 billion ringgit ($4.3 billion) in December, above the poll forecast of a 16.6 billion ringgit surplus. For the full year 2024, exports rose 5.7% from 2023 to 1.5 trillion ringgit ($333.48 billion) while imports climbed 13.2% to 1.37 trillion ringgit, the trade ministry said in a statement. Exports to the U.S and Taiwan reached all-time highs, with Taiwan becoming Malaysia's fourth largest trading partner. ($1 = 4.5000 ringgit) (Reporting by Ashley Tang; Editing by Martin Petty) (([email protected]))