The latest balance-of-payments figures published by the official data office, the Department of Statistics, show a slight deterioration in the current account. Although the country continued to record a surplus on the current account of M$90.5bn in 2010, the amount was still less than the surplus of M$112.1bn recorded in 2009. The deterioration partly reflected a weaker income balance, which recorded a shortfall of M$25.2bn, M$10bn wider than the year-earlier period. The widening in the deficit was attributable to net outflows, connected to repatriation of profits and dividends by foreign investors, surging to levels that were last recorded in 2008. The deterioration in the current-account position also reflected a decline in the trade surplus, which fell from M$141.7bn in 2009 to M$136.6bn 2010, as growth in imports of goods consistently outpaced exports. The services account also weakened in 2010. Although Malaysia continued to post a surplus in services, the amount fell from M$4.7bn in 2009 to M$863m (US$270m) in 2010, mainly owing to higher transport costs. The transfers deficit, largely made up of funds remitted by foreign workers working in Malaysia, widened from M$19.6bn in 2009 to M$21.7bn in 2010.

Given the government's policy of stimulating investment, FDI inflows in 2010 have been closely scrutinised by economic observers. Inflows of FDI surged to M$10.5bn in the fourth quarter, the highest level in more than two years. On a cumulative basis, inflows stood at M$27.6bn in 2010, five times the amount recorded in 2009 and nearly M$4bn more than in 2008. However, investment outflows remained high, at M$9bn in the fourth quarter and M$42.6bn in 2010 as a whole, as Malaysia's emerging multinational-including the state-owned oil company, Petronas, financial institutions and manufacturing firms-continued their aggressive expansion abroad.