Index signalling Malaysia's economic uptick in forthcoming months: Statisics dept

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia is heading towards an economic uptick in the coming months, based on the positive year-on-year (y-o-y) growth in the country’s Leading Index (LI) in February 2021.

The leading index (LI) is a predictive tool used to anticipate economic upturns and downturns in an average of four to six months ahead.

According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia’s (DOSM) “Malaysian Economic Indicators: Leading, Coincident and Lagging Indexes for February 2021” report, the LI had increased by 8.5 per cent y-o-y to 111.2 points in February 2021 from 102.5 points previously. The positive growth was buoyed by Bursa Malaysia’s Industrial Index which reflected the growth in the healthcare, transportation and logistics as well as the utilities indices.

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Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin (pic) said the LI grew by 1.1 per cent month-on-month (m-o-m), mainly due to the better performance in real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals (+0.6 per cent) and the number of new companies registered (+0.6 per cent).

He noted that the upcoming economic uptick is in line with the implementation of the Strategic Programme to Empower the People and Economy (Pemerkasa), along with the new fiscal injection to alleviate the people’s burden, strengthen economic growth and boost business activities. “Furthermore, the accelerated rollout of the vaccination programme is crucial to elevate optimistic sentiment and thus revive economic growth,” he added.

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Meanwhile, Mohd Uzir said during the month, the Coincident Index (CI) – which reflects the overall current economic condition – also showed an increase of 3.1 per cent m-o-m compared to a contraction of 0.4 per cent in January 2021.

He added that the growth was driven by the 1.7 per cent increase in the volume index of retail trade, as most businesses were allowed to continue operating under strict compliance with the standard operating procedures.

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