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Despite various measures taken by
the government to address the
outflow of payment for
transportation services, the deficit
is expected to widen further to
RM12.5 billion (2002: RM11.4
billion) on an increased total
payment of RM24 billion (2002:RM22.9
billion) this year.
According to the Bank Negara Annual
Report 2002, the higher gross
payments will be largely on account
of the expected higher volume of
trade which last year totalled RM640
billion compared with RM598 billion
in the previous year.
The statistics were contained in the
Bank Negera 2002 Annual Report
released last week.
The Report said the outflow of the
transportation account expanded by
2.7 per cent to RM22.39 billion in
last year compared with RM21.7
billion in the previous year.
The increased was despite the
various policies pursued by the
government to stem the outflow.
Noting that transportation account
is forecast to hit RM24 billion by
end of this year, the Report
revealed that the share of the
transportation account over the
gross payment in the services sector
(2002: RM62.5 billion) had risen to
35.6 per cent in 2002 from 32.0 per
cent in 1999.
The Report said gross receipts from
transportation components increased
as a result of improvements in
revenue from air transportation as
well as cargo and charter services
provided by domestic shipping
companies and port related services.
Revenue from the transportation
account rose by 3.85 per cent to
RM10.8 billion in 2002.
The Bank Negara Report said the
growth in the transportation
components was supported by higher
trade-related and transshipment
activities.
Activities at the ports remained
robust throughout the year.
"Installation of state-of-the-art
facilities as well as improvement in
the quality of services enabled the
country's ports to expand their
handling and storage capacities to
capture a larger share of regional
cargo and transshipment of
containers," the Report added.
With increased capacity and
competitiveness, total container
throughput at the six major ports
increased further by 20.7 per cent
in 2002.
Port Klang accounted for the major
share, recording a total of 4.5
million TEUs in 2002. Port of
Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) recorded
another marked achievement, with the
total TEUs handled increasing
sharply by 30 per cent to more than
2.6 million TEUs.
On the air transportation sector,
the Report said recorded stronger
performance in terms of both cargo
and passengers had been recorded.
During the year, total air cargo
movement increased by 16.3 per cent
(2001: 9.3 per cent) due partly to
the substitution into air transport
for the Christmas orders following
the closure of the US West Coast
ports.
Total passenger traffic at all
Malaysian airports increased by 4.2
per cent to 33.7 million.
The increase was due to higher
number of international passengers
(4.7 per cent) amidst the increase
in tourists, as well as increase in
the number of domestic passengers
(3.8 per cent) due mainly to more
affordable air travel offered by a
local airline company.
Accordingly, total passenger traffic
at the Kuala Lumpur International
Airport grew by 12.8 per cent to
reach 16.4 million passengers in
2002.
Overall, the services sector
recorded an annual average growth
rate of 8.2 per cent during the
period 1990-2002, faster than the
overall GDP growth of 6.5 per cent
during the same period.
It was also noted that the services
sector was less vulnerable during an
economic downturn.
Prior to the Asian crisis, the
performance of the services sector
was closely correlated with the
cycle in the manufacturing sector,
which in turn was driven mainly by
changes in external demand for
manufactured products.
However, with the global slowdown in
2001, domestic demand replaced
external demand as the main driver
of growth.
The performance of the services
sector, therefore, diverged from the
cycle in manufacturing and exports.
"Concerted measures to promote
services as a new engine of growth
and the promotion of domestic
consumption have helped the sector
to develop on several fronts," the
bank report said. |
