Malaysia recorded the leading index of 108.4 points in April, reflecting the country’s challenging economic outlook in the near term, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on Friday.
DOSM said in a statement that the leading index, a predictive tool used to anticipate economic upturns and downturns in an average of four to six months ahead, declined further to negative 2.7 percent.
According to DOSM, decreases were recorded in all the leading index components except for the number of housing units, which resulted in a softer performance.
Concurrently, the leading index dropped 1.6 percent in April, as opposed to negative 1.1 percent in the previous month.
Apart from expected sales value in manufacturing, most components similarly experienced downturns.
In terms of the current economic situation, the coincident index registered 121.8 points in April, an increase of 2.2 percent from a year ago.
The increase of 9.5 percent in the volume index of retail trade contributed significantly to this growth.
Meanwhile, the coincident index decreased by 0.1 percent month on month, owing to the unfavorable performance of the industrial production index.