Be the first to comment!Malta’s current account balance improved by €186.7 m in Q3 – NSO
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During the third quarter of this year, Malta’s current account balance improved by €186.7 million, the National Statistics Office said today.
Provisional indicators on Malta’s external transactions during the September quarter this year reveal a current account surplus of €349.9 million; signifying an improvement of €186.7 million over the net positive balance registered during the comparable quarter a year earlier of €163.2 million.
Contributing towards this amelioration was primarily a contraction in the net negative balances of both the goods account and the primary income account, of €114.9 million and €51.9 million respectively.
The goods account was marked by a fall in import outlays of €106.5 million that completely outweighed the modest rise in export receipts of €8.4 million; whereas the primary income account was affected by a fall in dividend payments that were distributed to the foreign direct investors in enterprises operating in Malta.
Additionally, during the period under review, the net positive balance in the secondary income account improved by €36.2 million. The net capital account fell by €1.2 million.
In the financial account of the statement, direct investment assets fell by €1,599.6 million as against a drop of €1,769.2 million during the third quarter in 2013. Direct investment liabilities rose by €828.4 million as compared to an increase of €729.8 million during the September quarter last year.
Portfolio investment assets rose by €1,978.6 million as against an increase of €3,379.3 million during the July to September period in 2013; while portfolio investment liabilities fell by €352.8 million as compared to a drop of €171.9 million during the third quarter last year.
Also, other investment assets increased by €2,242.1 million as against a rise of €2,211.3 million during the third quarter in 2013; whereas other investment liabilities increased by €1,214.5 million as compared to a growth of €3,217.4 million during the September quarter a year ago.
As a result of the above shifts, the reserve assets of the country fell by €242.5 million as opposed to a drop of €0.9 million during the third quarter last year.
