The industrial production index — which measures output from factories, mines, and power plants — rose 2.7 per cent in May from a year earlier, the Department of Statistics said in a statement.

That was slightly above the median 2.5 per cent growth predicted by economists but lagged April’s 3 per cent year-on-year increase. In seasonally-adjusted terms, the index gained 0.9 per cent in May from April.

According to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review, the country’s key manufacturing activities expanded 3.6 per cent year-on-year in May while electricity output surged 9.6 per cent from a year earlier. Mining output however contracted 1.1 per cent from a year earlier.

Overall, industrial production data indicated that economic activity remained resilient, Nomura Holdings’ economists Euben Paracuelles and Brian Tan wrote in a note. That “supports our view that Bank Negara Malaysia will leave its policy rate unchanged” when it meets today.

Bank Negara Malaysia has kept the benchmark overnight policy rate steady at 3.25 per cent for nearly two years, including at its most recent May 19 review, after raising it by 0.25 percentage points in July 2014, said the report.

“Based on preliminary data, real gross domestic product for the second quarter could weaken further,” it quoted RHB Investment Bank economist Peck Boon Soon as saying. “It will probably drop to below 4 per cent in the second quarter… but we’re keeping our full-year forecast of 3.9 per cent growth.”

That compares with the Government’s full year economic growth forecast of between 4 per cent and 4.5 per cent. In 2015, Malaysia’s trade-dependent economy grew 5 per cent from a year earlier.