KUALA LUMPUR, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's services exports surged 37.9 percent year on year to 195 billion ringgit (41.4 billion U.S. dollars) in 2023, driven by travel and transport, official data showed Wednesday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that Malaysia's total trade in services registered 433.2 billion ringgit in 2023, representing 23.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices.
The deficit in services for the year 2023 improved to a lower deficit of 43.2 billion ringgit as against a deficit of 58.2 billion ringgit in 2022.
Imports of services, on the other hand, rose by 19.3 percent year on year to 238.2 billion ringgit in 2023.
Exports of travel rebounded significantly to 68 billion ringgit as compared to 28.7 billion ringgit in the previous year. This is in line with the increase in tourist arrivals by almost 100 percent from 10.1 million persons in the previous year to 20.1 million persons.
Exports of transport also surged 30.8 billion ringgit as against 26.6 billion ringgit in 2022, mainly contributed by air and sea transports.
Singapore was the primary destination for Malaysia's services export with a value of 55.3 billion ringgit as compared to 37.5 billion ringgit in the previous year, mainly in travel, other business services and transport. (1 ringgit equals 0.21 U.S. dollar) ■
