KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's leading index (LI) remained positive in September 2024, recording a 1.8 per cent annual growth to reach 111.5 points versus 109.5 points in the same month a year ago, said Statistics Department Malaysia (DoSM).
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said this 10-month consecutive positive performance since December 2023 shows Malaysia’s continuous economic growth.
"The Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index was the main contributor to this increase, rising by 30.4 per cent,” he said in a statement today.
However, he noted that the LI’s monthly performance declined by 2.6 per cent due to decreases in most components, except for the real money supply, M1 and Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index, accounting for 0.2 per cent each.
"Looking at the smoothed long-term trend in September 2024, the LI consistently exceeded 100.0 points, indicating that the Malaysian economy is expected to continue growing, backed by optimistic domestic economic performance,” he said.
Nonetheless, Mohd Uzir pointed out that global challenges may pose potential risks to this growth trajectory.
On the current economic performance, he said the coincidence index (CI) also experienced an annual 1.3 per cent rise to reach 125.6 points versus 124.0 points a year ago.
"This performance was driven by almost all components, except for the real salaries and wages in manufacturing, which decreased by 0.6 per cent,” he said.
However, Mohd Uzir added that the CI monthly performance saw a marginal 0.7 per cent fall due to decreases in four out of six components, except for the manufacturing sector’s total employment, and real salaries and wages, which saw slight increases of 0.1 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively. - Bernama
