Malaysia’s leading index in May recorded a better negative growth of 1.1 percent with 110.3 points as compared to a negative 2.7 percent in April, official data showed Tuesday.
The Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement that the negative performance was pulled down by real imports of semiconductors and real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals.
Nevertheless, leading index’s monthly performance grew by 1.8 percent, as a result of growth in five leading index components except for expected sales value in manufacturing and real money supply M1.
Based on the latest leading index, DOSM said that Malaysia’s economy is foreseen encouraging in the near term, however, heightening global challenges should be taken into consideration.
As for the current economic situation, the coincident index maintained a positive annual growth momentum since September 2021 by registering 3.1 percent to 124.3 points in May as compared to 120.6 points in the same month of the previous year, contributed by the good performance of all components.
Simultaneously, the monthly change in coincident index also increased by 2.5 percent, with capacity utilization in manufacturing contributing significantly to the rise.