Malaysia's balance of payment for 2014 widens to RM49.5bil

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's balance of payments in current account surplus for 2014 widened to RM49.5bil from RM39.9bil in 2013, the Department of Statistics said on Thursday.

In a statement, it said the financial account posted a higher net outflow of RM76.5bil in 2014 and international reserves of Bank Negara Malaysia  registered a decrease of RM36.3bil.

For the fourth quarter of 2014, the department said Malaysia also posted a surplus in current account of RM6.1bil, with a net outflow in financial account of RM24.4bil and a decrease in the international reserves of RM11.4bil.

"The current account balance decreased by RM1.5bil from the previous quarter, mainly reflected from higher deficit in primary income of RM13.8bil and higher deficit in services account of RM8.7bil," it said.

For the full year, it said, the current account balance increased by RM9.6bil to RM49.5bil due to higher surplus in goods account of RM125.1bil.

In the fourth quarter, the department said, the capital account posted a net inflow of RM284.3mil, a reversal from a net outflow of RM1.4mil last quarter while for the full year, the capital account reverted to a net inflow of RM280.6mil as compared to RM20.9mil recorded a year before.

The higher net outflow of the financial account recorded in the fourth quarter was mainly due to a reversal in other investments to a net outflow of RM4.1bil from a net inflow of RM6.1bil and a higher net outflow in portfolio investment of RM20.4bil - Bernama