<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>KUALA LUMPUR (June 12): Hong Leong IB Research expects Bank Negara Malaysia to keep its overnight policy rate (OPR) at 3.25% throughout 2015 despite weaker Industrial Production Index (IPI) growth in April.</p></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>“We expect GDP growth to rebound in the second half of 2015 (2H15), hence maintaining our full-year target of 5.0%,” they said in a statement today.</p></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>Hong Leong’s comments followed the announcement of Malaysia’s IPI growth numbers yesterday, which sat at a 9-month low of 4% year-on-year (y-o-y) in April 2015 compared with a revised 7.1% y-o-y in March.</p></div><div class=inPageAd id=div-gpt-ad-inpage></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>The IPI, which tracks overall industrial activity, experienced lower than expected growth due to sluggish export demand amid declining selling prices and a lacklustre electrical and electronics sector, the research house said.</p></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>They expect IPI growth to remain subdued in the near term as negative catalysts such as a bumpy global manufacturing sector and uncertainty in orders overshadow positive impetuses like robust oil output, benefits from the weak ringgit and ongoing infrastructure projects</p></div>

<div class=newsTextDataWrapInner><p>Hong Leong estimated a weak 4.3% of growth in GDP based on all datapoints (IPI, trade and monetary indicators) for the second quarter of 2015 (2Q15) after a favourable 5.6% growth in the first quarter (1Q15).</p></div>

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KUALA LUMPUR (June 12): Hong Leong IB Research expects Bank Negara Malaysia to keep its overnight policy rate (OPR) at 3.25% throughout 2015 despite weaker Industrial Production Index (IPI) growth in April.

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