Malaysia’s 2021 gross national savings grew 19.1% to RM402.6bil – DoSM

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s gross national savings (GNS) recorded an increase of 19.1 per cent year-on-year to RM402.6 billion in 2021, compared to RM337.9 billion in the previous year, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) said.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in terms of institutional, the non-financial corporations sector recorded the highest gross savings with RM283.3 billion or a share of 70.4 per cent.

“This was followed by households with RM80.8 billion (share: 20.1 per cent) and general government sectors with RM21.8 billion (share: 5.4 per cent).

“The remaining gross savings were from the financial corporations sector, which amounted to RM16.7 billion or 4.1 per cent of GNS,” he said in a statement on the latest National Economic Accounts of Malaysia report, which was previously known as Distribution and Use of Income Accounts and Capital Account report.

Mohd Uzir said Malaysia’s gross disposable income posted RM1.50 trillion in 2021 with the household sector comprising RM903.1 billion.

He said households’ disposable income grew by 2.8 per cent as compared to a decrease of 4.1 per cent in the previous year, attributed to the higher receivables of social benefits and the improvement in the labour force participation rate.

“This has resulted in final consumption or household spending gaining momentum in 2021 by registering a growth of 3.7 per cent (2020: -4.3 per cent).

“Hence, Malaysian households’ savings rate was 8.3 per cent (2020: 8.5 per cent) of households’ disposable income (includes adjustment for the change in pension entitlements) in 2021,” he added.

The chief statistician said Malaysia’s economy was a net lender to the external sector with RM59.7 billion or 3.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021.

Net lending (+) or net borrowing (-) represents the changes in net worth due to savings and capital transfers that were used to fund capital formation or investment.

Mohd Uzir noted that the non-financial corporations sector held a net lending position of RM119.1 billion or 7.7 per cent of GDP.

“Both households and financial corporations sectors also registered net lending positions of RM28.3 billion (1.8 per cent of GDP) and RM4.6 billion (0.3 per cent of GDP), respectively.

“Nevertheless, the general government sector had a net borrowing position within the economy with an amount of RM92.3 billion (-6.0 per cent of GDP) in 2021,” said Mohd Uzir. – BK