Malaysia’s Leading Index (LI) recorded a healthier month-on-month (m-o-m) trend in February 2022, increasing to 110.8 points from 110.1 points in the preceding month, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).
However, the annual LI showed a slower performance at negative 0.5 per cent, signifying that near-term growth momentum would ease amid continued economic recovery, it said
It said that the annual LI showed a slower performance at negative 0.5 per cent in February 2022, influenced by cautious investor sentiment on stock markets which was reflected by the down trend of the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index, backed by the Healthcare Index and Utilities Index during the month, Department Of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said
On a month-on-month LI increased to 0.5 per cent during the reference month (January 2022: -1.1%), mainly determined by the significant contribution from Real Imports of Other Basic Precious & Other Non-ferrous Metals (0.6%), Real Imports of Semi Conductors (0.4%) and Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index (0.2%).
It said that the smoothed growth rate of LI is consistent above the trend, indicating that the Malaysian economy is bound to continue its journey to recovery although the growth momentum would be at ease in the near term.
“The international crises that happened currently had exerting further pressure on global economic growth through trade, inflation and financial markets, which in turn could disrupt the growth prospects of the Malaysian economy
Pertaining to current economic perspective, DOSM said that the Coincident Index (CI) sustained its growth by expanding 6.4 per cent to 120.4 points in February 2022 as opposed to 113.2 points during the same month of the previous year.
In view of monthly performance, it said that the CI rose by 0.1 percentage point to 2.6 per cent in February 2022 as compared to 2.5 per cent in the preceding month. The growth was primarily buoyed by the increment in Capacity Utilisation in Manufacturing sector (0.9%) and Volume Index of Retail Trade (0.9%).
The Diffusion Index for LI showed an increase to 85.7 per cent in February 2022. Meanwhile, the Diffusion Index for CI remained at 100.0 per cent for the three consecutive months implying that all components of CI increased as compared to the past six months.
