People in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia wait to get vaccinated (Photo: AFP/VNA) The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said total trade in servicesamounted to 232.7 billion RM, contributing 16.1 percent of gross domesticproduct (GDP at current prices) last year.
Exports of services declined to 92.6 billion RM from 170.2 billion RM in thepreceding year following disruption in key services components, namely traveland transport.
Similarly, imports of services decreased to 140.1 billion RM from 181.1 billionRM in 2019, it said in a statement today.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said travel, the mainstay ofMalaysia’s services trade all this while, faced a challenging situation, whichled to the highest deficit in 2020.
“This hardest-hit industry during the COVID-19 pandemic turned to a deficit of 7.7billion RM, for the first time in 30 years from a surplus of 30.8 billion RM in2019,” he was cited by Bernama as saying.
He said exports of travel component nosedived 84.7 percent to RM12.6 billiondue to substantially lower number of tourist arrivals.
Malaysia recorded 4.3 million international tourists in 2020, a significantdecrease of 83.4 percent compared to 2019 following border closure and travelrestrictions imposed by countries across the world.
Meanwhile, exports value of transport component slipped 37.1 percent to RM13.7billion in 2020 due to the significant drop in air transport.
“Air transport that heavily relies on air passenger exports plummeted 72.3 percentas a repercussion from global travel limitations to contain COVID-19.
“Even so, exports of sea and other transport, particularly in postal andcourier services, surged to 7.7 billion RM and 2.4 billion RM, respectively,”he said.
Mohd Uzir said based on the Economic Outlook 2021, Malaysia’s trade in servicesis projected to record a deficit of 30.9 billion RM with the well-plannedimplementation of movement control order (MCO)./.
VNA
