Malaysian economy to grow at slower pace in June-August — Statistics Department

KUALA LUMPUR (April 25): The Malaysian economy is expected to grow at a slower pace from June to August 2019, the Statistics Department said today, citing its economic indicators based on the leading, coincident and lagging indexes.

The department's chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement today the economy is expected to keep growing albeit at a slower pace between June and August based on the 2.2% on-month decrease in the leading index's (LI) growth rate for February.

"The monthly growth rate of LI decreased 2.2% by registering 116.3 points in February 2019 as against 118.9 points in January 2019. Two components that posted the highest percentage decrease were real imports of semiconductors (-0.9%) and number of housing units approved (-0.6%). The LI also showed a slower momentum of year-on-year change in February 2019. The LI is able to point out the direction of (the) economy for an average of four to six months ahead," Mohd Uzir said.

The coincident index (CI), which indicates current economic performance, also fell.

The statement quoted Mohd Uzir as saying the CI decreased 0.9% in February, led by the drop in capacity utilisation for the manufacturing sector.

"Capacity utilisation in manufacturing sector (-0.7%) was the component that led to the significant decrease. However, the annual change of CI rose 2.9% in February 2019," the statement said.

— theedgemarkets.com

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