KUALA LUMPUR (Aug 15): Malaysia eked out a tiny current-account surplus in the second quarter, the smallest in at least over 26 years, though the central bank expects a rebound going forward.
The deterioration in the country’s balance of payments was “temporary”, as exports of goods and services will pick up in the remaining months of 2025, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Datuk Seri Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said at a news conference following release of the data.
“The good thing is we have started to see signs of recovery,” Abdul Rasheed said.
Current-account surplus came in at just RM0.3 billion in the second quarter, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a Friday statement. The surplus in goods account contracted to RM17.0 billion during the quarter, while the deficit in the services account was a tad slimmer at RM3.3 billion.
The deficit in secondary income accounts — transfers and payments between residents and non-residents — ballooned to RM4.6 billion, largely due to lower receipts into the country.
The completion of maintenance works in the oil-and-gas sector and expectations of higher exports of services, particularly from data centres, will “definitely provide some support” for the current account balance for the second half, Abdul Rasheed stressed.
Liquefied natural gas exports have already rebounded strongly in June while a surge in equipment imports for data centres will help raise “our productivity and export capacity” as early as the second half of the year.
“In fact, we have seen some data centres already ramping up their production” and exporting their services, he added.
The financial account, meanwhile, recorded a smaller net outflow of RM2.2 billion in the second quarter, compared to RM20.3 billion in the last quarter, mostly driven by interbank activities with financial institutions abroad.
Foreign direct investment saw a much smaller net inflow of RM1.6 billion in the second quarter compared to RM15.6 billion in the first quarter, as sustained equity injections and inflows in debt instruments were partially offset by higher income repatriation to parent companies abroad.
Direct investment abroad registered a net inflow of RM0.6 billion from a net outflow of RM3.5 billion in the previous quarter, amid equity liquidations and debt instruments mainly in the manufacturing and services sectors.