Beef Up Non-Tourism Services Export, Says Malaysian Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (Bernama) -- Equal focus on non-tourism services export should be given to help reduce the deficit in the services account in the balance of payments that has expanded to US$4.88 billion (RM20 billion) last year from US$2.68 billion (RM11 billion) in 2014. (US$1 = RM4.09) Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry, Mustapa Mohamad, said there was no doubt that tourism was an important sector, contributing half of the country's services export but there were other segments that could be promoted as well. For instance, he said, there could be more focus on healthcare tourism, education, consulting services, architecture, construction and logistics. He told this to reporters after the closing ceremony of 'Doing Business in Japan' one-day seminar which was co-organised by Malaysia External Trade Development Corp and Japan External Trade Organisation. Over 300 people attended the seminar which aimed to enhance Malaysia's export opportunities and investments in Japan. On trade outlook, Mustapa said, the ministry and its agencies would step up promotional strategies to boost the presence of Malaysian products and services in overseas markets amid a challenging environment. He expected between one and two per cent growth this year. "We are modest in our target because we know the environment is going to be tough. Therefore, we need to be more creative and aggressive in doing promotion," he said. Based on Malaysia's trade performance published early this month, the exports in the first four months of 2016 grew by 1.2 per cent to RM246.51 billion, while imports fell 0.9 per cent to RM213.51 billion. Malaysia's total trade amounted to RM460.02 billion compared with RM459.04 billion in the same period last year. During the period under review, the trade surplus recorded a double-digit growth of 17 per cent worth RM32.99 billion. Trade with Japan for the first four months of 2016 fell 20 per cent to RM40 billion on the back of sluggish global economic growth which impacted Japanese economic expansion. --BERNAMA