Chief statistician 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%.

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

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

In a statement, 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% as compared to a decrease of 4.1% 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% (2020: -4.3%).

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

Uzir said Malaysia’s economy was a net lender to the external sector with RM59.7 billion or 3.9% 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.

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

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

“Nevertheless, the general government sector had a net borrowing position within the economy with an amount of RM92.3 billion (-6% of GDP) in 2021,” said Uzir.