Malaysia's current account surplus decreased significantly in the first quarter, data released by the Department of Statistics showed Wednesday.
The current account surplus fell to RM8.66 billion in the first quarter from RM22.9 billion in the fourth quarter. In the first quarter of 2012, the balance was a surplus of RM16.89 billion.
The surplus in the goods trade account dropped to RM24.67 billion from RM34.29 billion in the three months ended December 2012. The services account showed a deficit of RM3.37 billion, wider than the previous quarter's shortfall of RM2.23 billion.
The shortfall in the primary income account increased to RM8.81 billion in the first three months of 2013 from RM5.62 billion in the preceding three-month period, while the deficit in secondary income increased to RM3.83 billion from RM3.54 billion.
Separately, the agency said Malaysia's leading economic index increased to 116.3 in March from 115.2 in February, marking the third growth in a row.
The main components that made positive contributions to the leading index were real imports of semi conductors and real money supply.
At the same time, the coincident index, which measures the current situation, moved up to 117.8 from 115.9 in the previous month. The lagging index, which measures the past performance of the economy, advanced to 133.7 from 131.9.
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