KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 25 — Malaysia’s Leading Index (LI) continued to register positive growth, rising by 0.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 105.6 points in June 2021 from 105.1 points in June 2020, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

The LI is a predictive tool used to anticipate economic upturns and downturns in an average of four to six months ahead.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the increase was mainly contributed by real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals, driven by the import of copper-based metals.

However, he noted that the LI declined 2.8 per cent month-on-month (m-o-m), following the reduction in all of LI components.

"Looking at the direction indicated by the decreasing growth rate of smoothed LI (despite remaining above the trend), the LI indicates that Malaysia’s near-term economic prospects continue to face challenges.

"This is in line with the international and national agencies’ forecast of a slower economic outlook for Malaysia in 2021,” Mohd Uzir said in a statement today.

However, he said the positive impacts from various government initiatives to support business continuity, along with the progress in Covid-19 vaccination rates may boost business confidence, thus supporting economic recovery.

On another note, he said the Coincident Index (CI), which reflects the current economic activity, further decreased to -6.3 per cent m-o-m in June 2021 compared to -1.3 per cent in May 2021, due to the noticeable decline in capacity utilisation in the Manufacturing sector (-4.5 per cent). — Bernama