PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia’s position in terms of direct investments abroad (DIA) improved in the second quarter to RM15.4 billion, said the Statistics Department chief statistician Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.
Based on the balance of payments, the flow almost doubled that of the first quarter RM8.7 billion.
“The income from investments abroad has steadily improved from RM5.3 billion to RM7.3 billion,” Uzir said.
The value of Malaysian-owned assets abroad exceeded the value of foreign-owned assets by RM42.3 billion.
Assets, which included direct investment, portfolio investment, financial derivatives, reserves assets and other investment, totalled RM1.72 billion.
Singapore, Mauritius and Egypt were the top destinations for the DIA and investing interest was mostly in mining and quarrying, financial and insurance and manufacturing.
According to the Statistics Department, Malaysia’s international investment position continue to remain a net positive.
“This is also based on the confidence of the long-term multinational corporations in the country.”
Unlike the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) which tracks approved investments, the BOP records the realised investments.
For the second quarter between April and June, foreign direct investments (FDI) totalled RM8.3 billion, down from RM17 billion.
Mining, real estate, manufacturing, finance and ICT drew most of the flow and investors from China, US , Japan, Germany and the UK led the pack.
On the current account balance for the second quarter, the Statistics Department said the higher surplus in the current account in the second quarter which totalled RM9.6 billion was due to the improved performance in exports of goods.
“Going forward, with improving economic conditions with our major trading partners, we can expect the external demand for our merchandise to improve. In the case of China, growth remains a single high digit and that augurs well for Malaysia.”
At the end of the quarter, Malaysia’s financial account closed at RM7.3 billion contributed by a turnaround to the net inflow in portfolio investment.
According to the national accounts, the second quarter was contributed mostly by the faster growth in the services and manufacturing sectors.
The construction sector which also ramped up activities, was also another strong growth contributor.