KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's exports rose for the fourth straight month in December, expanding 10.8% from a year earlier on higher shipments of manufactured goods and agricultural products, particularly palm oil, government data showed on Friday.

The expansion beat the 6.6% rise forecast by analysts surveyed by Reuters and was quicker than the 4.3% growth posted in November.

Imports in December grew 1.6% from a year earlier, rising for the first time after nine straight months of decline, data from the Statistics Department showed. In November, imports had contracted 9%.

Malaysia's trade surplus in December widened to 20.7 billion ringgit ($5.11 billion) from 16.8 billion ringgit in November.