KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's Leading Index (LI) decreased by 1.5 percent to 108.5 points in January 2023 compared to 110.2 points in January 2022, official data showed Friday.
The latest LI indicated Malaysia's near-term economic prospects will continue to face challenges, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement.
This is in line with the forecast by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which anticipated slower global economic growth in 2023.
The LI is a predictive tool used to anticipate economic upturns and downturns in an average of four to six months ahead.
According to the DOSM, the number of new companies registered, real imports of semiconductors and Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index were among the components that underpinned the decline of the LI in January.
The monthly LI also weakened by 1.5 percent in January 2023 compared to 0.1 percent in the previous month.
All components showed decreases except for the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index, which increased by 0.3 percent.
As for the current economic position, the coincident index (CI) recorded an increase of 4.5 percent year on year to 119.5 points in January 2023 compared to 114.3 points in January 2022.
The growth was mainly contributed by the volume index of retail trade.
However, the monthly change of the CI recorded a decrease of 0.7 percent. ■