In a statement, the department revealed that the total trade in services amounted to RM232.7 billion, contributing 16.1% to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) last year.
Chief Statistician Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the high deficit was due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which impacted global economic activities more severely than the SARS epidemic in 2003.
Exports of services slipped to RM92.6 billion from RM170.2 billion the previous year, as a result of disruptions to key services components, particularly travel and transport. Imports of services also decreased from RM181.1 billion to RM140.1 billion.
Uzir also said the challenging situation with travel led to the highest deficit in 2020.
“The hardest-hit industry during the Covid-19 pandemic was travel and it turned into a deficit of RM7.7 billion for the first time in 30 years, having hit a surplus of RM30.8 billion in 2019,” he said.
He elaborated that exports of travel had “nosedived” by 84.7% to RM12.6 billion due to an 83.4% decrease in international tourists, following border closure and travel restrictions worldwide.
Air travel had decreased by 72.3%, although exports via sea and other transport, especially postal and courier services, had surged to RM7.7 billion and RM2.4 billion, respectively.
Uzir also said telecommunications, computer and information services had seen a “windfall opportunity” and performed well throughout the past year.
Exports of this component increased by 7.9% to RM13.4 billion, while imports rose by 14.8% to RM16.8 billion due to the spike in subscriptions of streaming services.
He added that personal, cultural and recreational services posted higher exports at RM2.4 billion, a 3.1% increase compared with 2019, contributed by the fast-growing gaming market through digital platforms and streaming services.
Based on this year’s economic outlook, he said the country’s trade in services was projected to record a deficit of RM30.9 billion with all the movement control orders (MCO) that were put in place.
On a global scale, he said the top importing countries for the year were the US, UK, Singapore, China and Japan, primarily in other business services and transport.
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