KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia’s leading index (LI) rebounded 5.3 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 111.7 points in June 2022 after a rise of 2.3 per cent in May 2022 to 111.3 points, signalling confidence towards further economic growth.
In a research note Friday, MIDF Research said the increase in June’s LI was the fastest rise since June 2021, mainly driven by higher real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals and also boosted by the low base effect from the prior year.
On month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, the research house said the LI grew positively at 0.4 per cent m-o-m in June 2022, attributable to improvement in four out of seven components, notably real imports of other metals (+0.6 per cent m-o-m) and new companies registered (+0.6 per cent m-o-m).
The economy is also picking up sharply with the coincident index spiking up by 12.6 per cent y-o-y which is the strongest growth for 14 consecutive months, it said.
MIDF Research noted that the surge was in line with improving domestic economic activities which contributed to the strong economic growth in the second quarter of 2022.
“Moving forward, we expect that Malaysia’s economy will continue to develop positively in the third quarter 2022 and in the near term as the latest LI reading indicates encouraging signals of improving growth momentum following the reopening of the economy and international borders despite concerns over possible slowdown mainly due to external uncertainties,” it said.
— NNN-BERNAMA
