KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia had a poor start to the first quarter of year 2024 with trade surplus at RM10.1 billion in January, its lowest since May 2020.
Imports jumped 18.8 per cent, or RM17.8 billion, to RM112.3 billion in January, while exports was up 8.7 per cent at RM122.4 billion from last year.
" We think that the current account might be supported by a recovery in the services account after foreign visitor arrivals breached Ministry of Tourism target of 19.1 million arrivals in 2023," CGS International said in its note on Feb 20, 2024.
It expects foreign visitor arrivals to continue to grow in 2024.
The poor showing in current account surplus for January however, did not change its current account forecast of 2.2 per cent of gross domestic product in 2024. In 2025, it expects the surplus to increase to 2.5 per cent of GDP.