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 Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the improvement was supported by a significant increase in the number of housing units approved (200.8 per cent).
Nevertheless, the persistent decreases in the real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals (-24.3 per cent) and real imports of semiconductors (-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 to a negative 0.5 per cent in the previous month.
“The decline was due to the contractions in all components except for the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index (0.1 per cent) and the Expected Sales Value, Manufacturing (0.1 per cent),” 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 to 120.8 points in the same month of the previous year.
“The incline was contributed by all CI components, especially the real contributions, EPF (15.5 per cent),” the DoSM said.
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 the Volume Index of Retail Trade (0.3 per cent). — Bernama