Malaysia is a trading country.

This can be shown by referring to the trading activities in

Malaysia as trading is one of the main sources of income for Malaysia since the end of 1980s.
Starting from that period, Malaysia had been experiencing high level of trading activities. The
total amount of trade was said to be more than 100% higher than the Gross Domestic Products. It
even surpass 200% in 2000s. Malaysia is actively involved in import and export trading
activities. The government of Malaysia had been proposing a lot of projects and strategies to
improve the competitive level of international trade and to enhance the export of goods and
services industries. However, recent economic crisis have causes a pattern of slowing down in
the economics of many countries which includes Malaysia. Subsequently, the total trading of
Malaysia reduces. This had causes some effect to the economic growth in Malaysia.
Previous empirical studies about the impact of trading activities on economic growth had
shown different results. According to Choong, Yusop and Liew (2005), exports have shown a
positive correlation with economic growth while imports have shown a negative relationship
with economic growth. Meanwhile, it was shown by Hye (2012) that trading activities, both
export and import, have a positive relationship with economic growth in China. The research
conducted by Venampy and Achchuthan (2013) in Sri Lanka further supported that there is a
significant relationship between export and import with the economic growth. Therefore, the
suggested hypothesis for trading activities, export and import are: