Leading Index up 0.6 pct in June, economic activity to continue expanding

KUALA LUMPUR: The annual change in Leading Index (LI), which monitors the economic performance in advance, increased 0.6 per cent in June 2017 to 117.9 points, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

Nevertheless, the monthly change in LI showed a negative growth of 0.6 per cent in the reference month, due to the decrease in real imports of semi-conductors (-0.5 per cent) and expected sales value in manufacturing sector (-0.4 per cent) components.

The Coincident Index ( CI), which measures the current economic activity, rose 0.4 per cent in June 2017, driven by the increase in volume index of retail trade (0.7 per cent) and industrial production index (0.2 per cent), it said in a statement on “Malaysian Economic Indicators: Leading, Coincident & Lagging Indexes June 2017” yesterday.

“The annual change in CI increased 4.0 per cent in the reference month, in line with the growth in Gross Domestic Product at a constant price which expanded 5.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2017 from 5.6 per cent in the previous quarter,” said the department.

The annual change in LI and CI in June 2017 remained favourable at a slower momentum compared with the previous month.

At the same time, both diffusion Indexes sustained above 50.0 per cent since January 2017.

“Supported by the growth rate shown, the economic activity is expected to continue expanding throughout the year 2017,” it added. -- BERNAMA