The J-curve: Malaysia versus her major trading partners

Currency depreciation is said to worsen the trade balance before improving it, hence the J-curve phenomenon. Since introduction of cointegration and error-correction modelling, researchers have tried to distinguish the short- run effects of currency depreciation from its long-run effects. A few studies that have investigated the experience of Malaysia, have relied upon aggregate trade data and have found no strong support for a significant relation between the real value of the ringgit and the Malaysian trade balance. In this article, we disaggregate the data by country and consider Malaysia's bilateral trade balance with her 14 largest trading partners. Using bound testing approach to cointegration and error-correction modelling, we provide some support for the J-curve hypothesis.