25-7-2023 (KUALA LUMPUR) Malaysia’s leading index showed signs of improvement in May, recording a better negative growth rate of 1.1 percent with 110.3 points, compared to a negative 2.7 percent in April, according to official data released on Tuesday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) stated that the negative performance was primarily attributed to real imports of semiconductors and other basic precious and non-ferrous metals.
Despite this, the leading index displayed a monthly growth of 1.8 percent, driven by positive performances in five of its components, with the exception of expected sales value in manufacturing and real money supply M1.
Based on the latest leading index figures, DOSM projected an encouraging outlook for Malaysia’s economy in the near term. However, it also cautioned about the increasing challenges posed by the global economic environment.
On the other hand, the coincident index, which measures the current economic situation, maintained its positive growth momentum since September 2021, registering a 3.1 percent annual growth to reach 124.3 points in May compared to 120.6 points in the same month of the previous year. This positive growth was attributed to the strong performance of all its components.
At the same time, the monthly change in the coincident index rose by 2.5 percent, with capacity utilization in manufacturing contributing significantly to the increase.
