Malta's current account estimated at a surplus of €179.5 million during second quarter

Provisional estimates show that during the second quarter, Malta’s current account recorded a net surplus of €179.5 million, according to the National Statistics Office.

The NSO release said that these updates do not allow for comparison with previous periods as this is the first Balance of Payments statement produced in accordance with the guidelines provided in the ‘Sixth Edition of the IMF’s Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual (BPM6)’. For the first time, the statement is including data for special purpose entities (SPEs).

When comparing the period January to June 2014 with the corresponding period in 2013, the ‘surplus in the goods and services’ component of the current account has increased by a further €32.9 million or by 21.5%. This clearly shows that during the first 6 months of 2014, the Maltese economy has consolidated its export performance.

Whilst acknowledging that the net deficit in the export of goods deteriorated slightly in the first 6 months of 2014 when compared to the same period in 2013, yet, the net surplus in the services account increased considerably. For January to June 2014, exports of services exceeded imports of services by €730.2 million. This surplus represents a further increase of €41.7 million compared to the first 6 months of 2013.

With respect to the ‘good’ component, it must be mentioned that during the June 2014 Quarter the net balance improved by €9.4 million when compared to June 2013 Quarter.

The solid performance of the tourism sector was further highlighted in this release. The tourism component in the services account for January to June 2014 recorded a surplus of €314.7 million. This surplus was €33.8 million higher than that recorded for the period January to June 2013.

The category ‘other services’ during the first 6 months of the year also showed an improved performance. Net exports totalled 458.4 million. This showed an additional increase of 16.6 million on the surplus that was already generated during the first 6 months of 2013.

Other figures related to primary and secondary income also had an impact on the overall current account position. In this case, despite a decline in the primary income account in the first 6 months, comparing this period with the same period in 2013, a positive balance of €141.8 million was recorded. A similar but inverted scenario was recorded in the secondary income section.