Malaysia’s economic outlook to remain moderate, says statistics dept

Malaysia’s economic outlook to remain moderate, says statistics dept

Largely attributed to global economic uncertainties albeit strong domestic demand.

The statistics department projected Malaysia’s economic growth rate based on the leading index (LI) for August which continued to remain in negative territory, narrowing by 0.5% to 109.7 points.
PETALING JAYA:
With August’s leading index (LI) remaining in negative territory, the statistics department anticipated that Malaysia’s economy would continue to moderate, attributed to global economic uncertainties albeit strong domestic demand.

In a statement, the department said Malaysia’s annual growth rate in the LI saw a contraction as it narrowed by 0.5% to 109.7 points in August 2023 from a decline of 1% (108.9 points) in the previous month.

LI is a tool utilised for predicting economic trends four to six months ahead.

Chief Statistician Uzir Mahidin said four components contributed positively to the index, namely the number of housing units approved (rose 245.7%), the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index (up 15.2%), the number of new companies registered (up 13.1%) as well as real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals (up 3.6%).

Conversely, real imports of semiconductors continued to demonstrate a decline of 31.9%, he added.

In terms of the current economic scenario, he said the coincident index (CI) grew 2.1% to 123.6 points in August from 121 points in the same month of the previous year, contributed by all components, except the industrial production index which slid 0.4%.

On a monthly basis, it said the CI improved by 0.04% to 123.6 points in August against 123.5 points in July, primarily backed by the increase of total employment in manufacturing which expanded 0.4%.

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