KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will not face a balance of payments crisis like Sri Lanka's despite a narrowing in the trade surplus.
Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) deputy governor Datuk Marzunisham Omar said Malaysia has been recording current account surpluses for the past 28 years.
"We will not face a balance of payments crisis. We expect Malaysia to continue having a current account surplus this year. "If we look at this issue, Malaysia has been recording a current account surplus for almost 28 years now. "Besides the export recovery that we anticipate, the tourism sector also contributes significantly to the country's foreign exchange. "With the visa liberalisation for Chinese tourists and the current level of the ringgit, Malaysia is very attractive," he said in a press conference in conjunction with BNM's Flagship Publications today.
Malaysia's trade surplus fell 44 per cent in Feb 2024 to RM10.87 billion, marking the 46th consecutive month of trade surplus since May 2020.
Exports declined marginally by 0.8 per cent to RM111.33 billion, while imports increased by 8.4 per cent to RM100.46 billion.
Meanwhile, Abdul Rasheed said the current account balance of payments is expected to register a higher surplus of between 1.8 per cent to 2.8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024. He said that this surplus represents an increase compared to 1.2 per cent of GDP in 2023, which was the lowest current account balance ever recorded since 1997.