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Malaysia Q3 current account surplus 13.7 bln rgt

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia posted a record current account surplus of 13.7 billion ringgit in the third quarter of 1999, compared to 12.0 billion ringgit in the second quarter, the Statistics Department said on Saturday.

The high current account surplus was attributable to a jump in merchandise exports free on board (FOB), rising to 83.7 billion ringgit in the three months to end-September 1999, compared to 77.1 billion the previous quarter, the department said in a statement. Year-on-year, the current account surplus for the nine months to end September rose 39.8 percent or 10 billion ringgit to 35.1 billion ringgit compared to the same nine-month period in 1998, the department said.

Net long-term capital inflows rose by 4.2 billion ringgit or 68.9 percent to 10.3 billion ringgit in the first nine months of 1999 from 6.1 billion in the year-ago period.-Reuters