KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's leading index (LI) continued to demonstrate strong growth momentum in August 2024, with a growth of 4.0 per cent to 114.3 points from 109.9 points in the same month of the previous year, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the growth reflects improvements across all components of the index.

"Looking at the smoothed long-term trend in August 2024, the LI consistently exceeded 100.0 points, indicating that the Malaysian economy is growing steadily bolstered by strong economic fundamentals and positive outlook for external trade," he said in a statement today. 

DoSM today released the Malaysian Economic Indicators: Leading, Coincident & Lagging Indices for August 2024. The LI provides an early indication of significant turning points in the business cycle and the economy's direction in the near term.

However, Mohd Uzir noted that on a monthly basis, the LI declined by 0.7 per cent, down from 115.1 points in July 2024, due to significant reductions in the real imports of semiconductors (0.8 per cent); expected sales value in manufacturing (0.6 per cent) and Bursa Malaysia industrial index (0.3 per cent).

Meanwhile, he said the coincidence index (CI), which reflects the current economic situation, recorded an annual growth of 2.1 per cent in August 2024, reaching 126.5 points against 123.9 points in the same month of the previous year.

"This increase was largely driven by growth in most components except for the real salaries and wages in manufacturing, which saw a slight decline of 0.3 per cent," he said.

For monthly performance, Mohd Uzir said the CI showed a marginal decrease of 0.6 per cent, affected by downturns in four out of six components, notably in the real contributions, employees provident fund (0.3 per cent).

 - BERNAMA