Domestic PPI up 6.7 per cent in 2017

KUALA LUMPUR: The Producer Price Index (PPI) for local production increased by 6.7 per cent to 107.9 in 2017 compared with a decline 1.1 per cent to 101.1 in 2016, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) said.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said this was due to the increases in index for four sectors, namely mining (+24.7 per cent), agriculture, forestry and fishing (+7.0 per cent), manufacturing (+5.3 per cent), and electricity and gas supply (+1.9 per cent).

On the other hand, water supply decreased 0.1 per cent, he said in a statement yesterday.

On a year-on-year basis, the PPI rose by 0.3 per cent in December 2017, 4.0 per cent lower compared with 4.3 per cent in November the same year.

Mohd Uzir said the mining index recorded the highest increase of +8.9 per cent, followed by manufacturing (1.1 per cent), while agriculture, forestry and fishing decreased 13.8 per cent, water supply (-0.4 per cent), and electricity and gas supply (-0.2 per cent).

On a month-to-month basis, the PPI for local production decreased by 0.5 per cent in December 2017 due to decreases in four sectors, namely agriculture, forestry and fishing (-5.3 per cent), mining (-0.6 per cent), and both electricity and gas supply and water supply (-0.3 per cent).

However, the index for manufacturing registered an increase of 0.1 per cent.

Mohd Uzir said the PPI for local production by stage of processing (SOP) declined 0.5 per cent in December 2017 due to decreases in the indices for crude materials for further processing (-2.4 per cent) and finished goods which remained unchanged.

On the other hand, intermediate materials, supplies and components increased by 0.1 per cent. — Bernama SHORT-TERM interbank rates closed stable yesterday on Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) intervention to mop out excess liquidity from the financial system.

The liquidity surplus in the conventional system declined to RM34 billion from RM44.65 billion in the morning, while in the Islamic system, it fell to RM11.55 billion from RM18.01 billion.

BNM earlier called for four tenders comprising a Range Maturity Auction, an Islamic Range Maturity Auction, a repo and a Commodity Murabahah Programme tender.

The central bank also conducted a RM33.2 billion conventional money market tender and a RM11.5 billion Qard money market tender, both for three-day money.

BNM revised its conventional overnight tender to RM33.2 billion from RM29.6 billion.

The overnight Islamic reference rate was at 3.17 per cent, while the one-week, two and three-week rates stood at 3.24 per cent, 3.28 per cent and 3.33 per cent respectively.