Malaysia Economic Indicators - Leading, Coincident And Lagging Indices March 2009

Malaysia Economic Indicators - Leading, Coincident And Lagging Indices March 2009
Source:http://www.statistics.gov.my/eng/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=382:malaysia-economic-indicators-leading-coincident-and-lagging-indices-march-2009-&catid=48:malaysias-economic-indicators-&Itemid=12

The Coincident Index (CI) decreased by 1.4% in March 2009 registering at 112.5 points. Negative change in the current month was due to decline of total employment in manufacturing sector (-0.7%), real salaries & wages in manufacturing sector (-0.4%), real gross imports (-0.3%), real sales in manufacturing sector (-0.3%) and Index of Industrial Production (-0.1%). The six-month smoothed growth rate of CI in March 2009 dropped to -10.0% from -8.6% recorded in the previous month.



The Leading Index (LI) rose 0.5% to 159.0 points in March 2009. The increase of the index was supported by real money supply, M1 (0.8%), inverted growth rate of CPI for services (0.3%) and number of housing permits approved (0.1%). The six-month smoothed growth rate of LI moved up to 0.2% in the current month compared to -0.7% in the previous month.

The six-month smoothed growth rate of Leading Index (LI) was gradually improved since January 2009. The lowest growth of LI was registered in December 2008. If the growth momentum of LI persists, the economic slowdown is expected to turn around in the third quarter of 2009.