KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4: Rising exports of electrical products in August fuelled Malaysia’s largest monthly surplus this year of 8.99 billion ringgit ($2.6 billion), official data showed on Thursday.

Exports in August were higher at 53.61 billion ringgit, up 0.3 per cent a year earlier and 6.1 per cent from July. August imports struck 44.61 billion ringgit, up 2.9 per cent year-on-year and 4.9 per cent from July

“Major product sectors which contributed to the significant increase in exports from the previous month were electrical and electronic products and wood products,” it said.

The 12.7 per cent surge in the August trade surplus from the previous month represented the 118 consecutive month of trade surplus since November 1997.

It said exports to the US, Malaysia’s single largest trading partner, grew 7.5 per cent from the previous month to 8.2 billion ringgit, supported by higher exports of electronic products.

Total trade in August was a record 98.22 billion ringgit, up 1.5 per cent on an annualised basis.

For the first eight months, Malaysia’s total trade rose two per cent from a year earlier to 713.83 billion ringgit.—AFP