Nonetheless, this is slightly lower than the 5.3% to 6.3% forecast by finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz early this month, or the World Bank’s estimate of 6.4% earlier.

The DoSM said that despite the drop in the LI (forecast of future economic activity based on a set of data), there still was optimism in the country’s economic performance in the coming months.

In its latest Malaysia economic statistics review, the DoSM said the LI for July was 4.1%, a drop of 1.2% from the previous month.

As for the external sector, DoSM said exports surged 48.2% to RM141.3 billion in August, while imports soared 67.6% to RM124.4 billion.

The economic improvement is also evident in various areas. The number of employed persons rose 4.5% to 15.98 million in July, while the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%.

In July 2022, the industrial production index was up 12.5% year-on-year, with sales volume from the manufacturing sector at RM148.4 billion, a 23.8% jump versus a year ago.

Wholesale and retail trade sector sales saw a strong 41% rise year-on-year to RM130.7 billion in July 2022.

Meanwhile, in commodities, the production of fresh fruit bunches increased 3.8% to 8.87 million tonnes in August 2022, while natural rubber production declined by 21.8% to 38,006 tonnes in July 2022.

The consumer price index and producer price index for August 2022 recorded a rise of 4.7% and 6.8%, respectively, against the same month a year ago.