Overview

OVERALL BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

In the fourth quarter 2015, Malaysia's Balance of Payments posted a higher surplus in current account of RM11.4 billion, a net inflow in financial account of RM5.3 billion and a decrease in the international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia of RM6.0 billion.

CURRENT ACCOUNT

The higher surplus of current account balance mainly reflected from higher surplus in goods account of RM30.9 billion (Q3 2015: surplus RM27.1 billion) and lower deficit in both primary income account of RM8.2 billion (Q3 2015: deficit RM10.3 billion) and secondary income account of RM5.0 billion (Q3 2015 : deficit RM5.9 billion). Meanwhile, services account posted a higher deficit of RM6.2 billion (Q3 2015: deficit RM5.9 billion).

During 2015, the current account balance posted RM34.0 billion (2014: surplus RM47.3 billion). This was resulted from wider deficit in services and secondary income accounts as well as lower surplus in goods account. For services account, exports recorded RM135.7 billion while imports posted RM156.1 billion.

CAPITAL ACCOUNT

In Q4 2015, capital account recorded a lower deficit of RM15.0 million compared to RM30.1 million in the last quarter. This was due to lower payments on capital transfer outflow by RM9.0 million. In 2015, capital account posted a reversal to deficit RM1.2 billion from a surplus of RM0.3 billion as recorded last year.

FINANCIAL ACCOUNT

The financial account recorded a net inflow of RM5.3 billion from a net outflow of  RM31.2 billion last quarter. This was mainly due to a reversal in portfolio investment component to net inflow of RM15.9 billion (Q3 2015: outflow RM24.4 billion).

Direct Investment Abroad (DIA) posted a higher net outflow of RM6.8 billion (Q3 2015: outflow RM5.0 billion). Meanwhile, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Malaysia showed a higher net inflow of RM12.5 billion (Q3 2015: inflow RM4.7 billion).

Annually, this account posted a lower net outflow of RM53.3 billion from RM81.6 billion, mainly due to a turnaround to net inflow in direct investment and lower net outflow in portfolio investment. DIA registered a lower net outflow of RM39.3 billion from RM53.8 billion, while FDI recorded higher net inflow of RM39.5 billion from RM35.3 billion last year.

RESERVE ASSETS

The international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia as at end of December 2015 was RM409.1 billion, an increase by RM3.7 billion from a year ago.

Download: Summary Table of Balance of Payments, 2014 - 2015 

Released By:

THE OFFICE OF CHIEF STATISTICIAN MALAYSIA
DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, MALAYSIA
18 February 2016

Contact person:
Ho Mei Kei
Public Relation Officer
Corporate and User Services Division
Department of Statistics, Malaysia
Tel : +603-8885 7942
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Email : mkho@stats.gov.my

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