KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians wealth fell four per cent to 9,430 euro net financial assets per capita in 2023, compared with 9,830 euro per capita, as liabilities continued its uptrend.
Growth in liabilities continued at pace, of 5.7 per cent.
"As a result, the debt ratio remained at 81 per cent at the end of 2023, one of the highest ratios in Asia. However, it's still below the levels seen before the pandemic when the ratio hovered around 85 per cent," the 15th edition of Global Wealth Report by Allianz said.
According to the report, gross financial assets grew by 5.8 per cent in 2023 after suffering two years of setbacks.
This was partly due to growth in the insurance/pensions asset class.
"Main driver was the biggest asset class insurance/pensions (portfolio share of 42 per cent), which increased by 9.8 per cent, the fastest increase in five years.
"Bank deposits, too, grew solidly with 5.2 per cent. Only the asset class securities lagged behind (0.3 per cent); at least, after two years of shrinking, it returned to positive growth. In real terms the picture is less rosier," it said.
Adjusted for inflation, the report revealed that Malaysia's increase in 2023 almost halved to 3.2 per cent.
Moreover, real financial assets was only slightly above the level of 2020 (0.8 per cent), albeit clearly above the pre-pandemic level of 9.1 per cent.
Globally, the report said financial assets of private households posted an increase of 7.6 per cent.
Overall, total financial assets amounted to 239 trillion euro at the end of 2023.
"But growth in the three major asset classes was quite uneven. Securities (up 11.0 per cent) and insurance/pensions (up 6.2 per cent) benefited from the stock market boom and higher rates, growing significantly faster than the average of the last ten years," it said.
In contrast, bank deposits expanded at a lower rate of 4.6 per cent after the pandemic-related boom years, recording one of the lowest increases in the last 20 years.