“These are issues that are close to the people’s hearts.
“It is about looking at some of the strategies and addressing the needs of the people,” he said when asked to comment on the federal budget and the recent increase in Malaysia’s total trade market.
Irwan added that Putrajaya wanted to sustain this year’s economic growth and further boost the country’s exports.
He was speaking to reporters after the soft launch of the Global Entrepreneurship Community Summit 2017 at the Malaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre (MaGIC) here.
Yesterday, Putrajaya announced that Malaysia’s total trade had soared to RM1.008 trillion in the first seven months of 2017, up 22.7% from a year earlier.
According to Bernama reports, the expansion was mainly supported by trade with Asean countries, China, the United States, the European Union, Japan, India and Taiwan.
Exports grew by 22.3% to RM529.68 billion, while imports rose by 23% to RM478.71 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of RM50.97 billion.
The electrical and electronic (E&E) sector led exports to register double-digit growth for the seventh straight month, up 28.3% or RM6.15 billion, followed by mining goods which expanded by 27.5% to RM6.71 billion, and agriculture goods which rose 14.8% to RM6.42 billion.
The international trade and industry ministry (Miti) said major exports in July were E&E products valued at RM27.91 billion, petroleum products (RM7.09 billion), chemicals and chemical products (RM5.72 billion), palm oil and palm oil-based agriculture products (RM4.46 billion) and liquefied natural gas (RM3.79 billion).
Meanwhile, imports in July increased by 21.8% to RM70.59 billion. The three main categories of imports by end-use were intermediate goods, valued at RM39.9 billion, capital goods (RM9.18 billion) and consumption goods (RM5.99 billion).