KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 16 – Malaysia said Friday that it recorded a 22.8 billion ringgit (4.7 billion U.S. dollars) current account surplus in 2023, lower than 55.1 billion ringgit a year ago, official data showed Friday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement the current account balance surplus which made up 1.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) was largely buoyed by net exports of goods at 132.9 billion ringgit.
The services logged a deficit of 41.9 billion ringgit, narrowing by 25.7 percent as against a 56.4 billion ringgit deficit in the previous year, with travel making the largest contribution.
Meanwhile, the financial account switched to a net outflow of 18.9 billion ringgit from a net inflow of 12.4 billion ringgit in 2022, due to outflows in portfolio investment and financial derivatives.
As for the fourth quarter of 2023, Malaysia recorded a surplus of 253.4 million ringgit, supported by the travel component. (1 ringgit equals 0.21 U.S. dollar)
