KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — The Leading Index (LI) for July 2023 anticipated a modest economic performance after registering 109.0 points, a 0.9 per cent decrease year-on-year from 109.5 points in July 2022, said the Department of Statistics (DoSM) today.
It said this was an improvement compared with the 2.1 per cent decline in June 2023 at 109.8 points compared with 112.1 points in June 2022.
The LI is a tool used to forecast economic movements in an average of four to six months ahead.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the improvement was supported by a significant increase of 200.8 per cent in the number of housing units approved.
Nevertheless, the persistent decreases in the real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals by -24.3 per cent and real imports of semiconductors by -17.4 per cent influenced the overall growth.
“Looking at the monthly performance, the LI recorded a negative 0.7 per cent for the reference month compared with a negative 0.5 per cent in the previous month.
“The decline was due to the 0.1 per cent contractions in all components except for the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index and the Expected Sales Value, Manufacturing,” said Mohd Uzir in a statement today.
In terms of the current economic situation, the Coincident Index (CI) recorded 123.5 points in July 2023, increasing by 2.2 per cent compared with 120.8 points in the same month of the previous year.
“The incline was contributed by all CI components, especially the real contributions, EPF of 15.5 per cent,” said the DoSM.
It added that at the same time, the monthly performance of the CI rebounded 0.2 per cent as compared to a negative 0.9 per cent in the previous month, driven by a 0.3 per cent Volume Index of Retail Trade.
— Bernama
