RHB Research: Malaysia's Current Account Surplus To Grow To US$4.5 Bln This Year

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- Malaysia current account surplus is expected to grow slightly to US$4.5 billion (RM20.2 billion) this year or 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), from an estimated of US$3.57 billion (RM15.9 billion) or 1.3 per cent of GDP in 2016. (US$1=RM4.44) In a research note Friday, RHB Research said this was due to the improving outlook for commodity prices. Exports are also expected to pick up modestly to 2.0 per cent his year from 1.1 per cent in 2016, due to a gradual improvement in world merchandise trade volume, and resilient demand for electric and electronic goods as well as the recovery in commodity prices. "The acceleration in December's exports was led by a pick-up in shipments to China and the ASEAN region. "These were, however, partly offset by a slowdown in shipments to the United States and the European Union, while that to Japan fell by a wider margin," said RHB Research. IHS Global Insight's Asia Pacific Chief Economist Rajiv Biswas said the outlook for Malaysia’s manufacturing sector in the near-term is expected to be helped by the global and Asia Pacific (APAC) economic outlook for 2017. "We forecast that the APAC region will remain the fastest-growing in the global economy, helped by continued rapid growth in the major Asian emerging markets of China, India and ASEAN. "APAC GDP growth is forecast to be 4.6 per cent in 2017, similar to the 4.7 per cent estimated for 2016," he said. He said that the world GDP growth was also expected to improve to 2.8 per cent from 2.4 per cent in 2016, helped by stronger US GDP growth, which would have a positive impact on Malaysia’s exports and GDP growth as well. -- BERNAMA