, has increased three - fold from 15 per cent in the first half of the 1990s to 45 per cent during 2014 – 19. 6. notwithstanding these achievements, there are several areas of concern as well which occupy centre - stage in the conduct of external sector management. first, merchandise exports have lost momentum under the weight of the slump in world trade. in spite of export volume growth averaging 4. 2 per cent during 2013 – 18 ( unctad, 2019 ), india ’ s export growth in us dollar terms has weakened – as in a host of emerging and advanced economies – to 2. 2 per cent over the same period, as falling unit value realisations have taken their toll. the slowdown in global demand has affected our exports of petroleum products as well – they constitute 14 per cent of total merchandise exports. second, the deceleration in domestic demand has pulled imports, especially non - oil non - gold imports, into contraction and this has reduced the inflow of intermediates, capital goods and technology that is vital for modernising our infrastructure and industry. third, portfolio flows, which on average account for about 23 per cent of external financing in a normal year, have turned highly volatile, with net outflows of us $ 0. 6 billion in 2018 – 19. during 2019 – 20 so far ( up to september 13 ), portfolio equity outflows were of the order of us $ 1. 4 billion but lower than us $ 2. 9 billion in the corresponding period a year ago. net inflows into the debt market of us $ 4. 1 billion have, however, provided relief. moreover, these portfolio capital movements have turned out to be conduits of global spillovers, impacting domestic equity, debt and forex markets, and asset prices. nonetheless, the underlying resilience of india ’ s external sector, anchored by the positive features i set out earlier, have cushioned these shocks and insulated the domestic economy. managing the external sector 7. against this backdrop, i would like to turn to several recent initiatives undertaken by the reserve bank of india and the government of india to fortify india ’ s external position and improve the capacity of the economy to deal with the headwinds that confront us in these testing times. exports 8. exports hold the key to a sustainable balance of payments position. in the final analysis, liabilities in the form of debt and even equities cannot entirely substitute for foreign exchange earnings from exports of

zeti akhtar aziz : improving and expanding malaysia ’ s cross - border financial flows and capital market transactions speech by dr zeti akhtar aziz, governor of the central bank of malaysia ( bank negara malaysia ), at the official launch of the expansion of swift office in kuala lumpur, kuala lumpur, 24 november 2014. * * * it is my pleasure to be here today on the occasion of the opening of this expanded swift kuala lumpur corporate services centre. we are most honoured with the presence of her royal highness princess astrid of belgium. allow me to, first of all, welcome her royal highness princess astrid of belgium. it is also my pleasure to welcome his excellency didier reynders, federal deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs and european affairs of belgium, and his excellency pieter de crem, federal secretary of state for foreign trade of belgium to kuala lumpur. it is my honour to address such a distinguished gathering including the practitioners from the financial fraternity. we are pleased to welcome the expansion of the swift office in kuala lumpur. malaysia has aspired to be an important destination for international corporations and organisations to operate in. malaysia has well - developed infrastructure, a dynamic workforce and costcompetitive environment to provide an enabling environment for mutually reinforcing benefits. malaysia is now home to more than 5, 000 foreign companies from more than 40 countries. additionally, it also includes global and regional shared services hubs that serve worldleading financial services providers and international corporations. malaysia is also the host to a number of the international institutions in the area of finance that include the islamic financial services board, and more recently, the alliance for financial inclusion. we are very pleased that swift, an important market infrastructure service provider to the global financial community, has selected kuala lumpur as its corporate services centre. malaysia ’ s financial sector has in this recent decade made significant strides in facilitating the country ’ s cross - border economic linkages with other economies. malaysia is part of a vibrant region, comprising asean and of the greater asia. the region has prevailing strong foundations and significant growth prospects with strong inter regional connectivity. malaysia ’ s volume of cross - border trade and foreign exchange settlements with asean economies alone has grown at an average rate of 10 % in the recent four years, reflecting malaysia ’ s increasing integration with the regional markets. a vibrant foreign exchange market has supported this growth, where the overall malaysian foreign exchange market volume has increased by more than five - fold in a period