KUALA LUMPUR (July 25): Malaysia saw its leading index (LI) grow 3.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 114.2 points in May 2024, from 110.0 points in the same period last year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM).

“The growth reflected a resilient economy, underpinned by increasing tourism activities and promising external demand,” chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said in a statement on Thursday.

LI is a tool utilised for predicting economic trends for an average of four- to six months ahead.

Mohd Uzir said Malaysia's LI has maintained its positive growth for the six consecutive month, primarily supported by a sturdy gain in the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index (up 31.8%), followed by real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals (up 20.6%).

On a month-on-month (m-o-m) basis, he said the LI edged up 0.8%, mainly contributed by the number of new companies registered in May 2024 (up 0.5%).

On the coincident index (CI), which reflects the current state of the economy, DOSM said the index increased 2.2% y-o-y to 126.1 points in May 2024, mainly driven by robust performance in the real contributions of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) (up 8.7%). 

On a monthly basis, the CI also registered an increase of 0.6%, bolstered by all components, except the capacity utilisation in manufacturing, which shrank 0.2% from the previous month, the department said.  

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