KUALA LUMPUR (June 9): The growth in Malaysia’s industrial production index (IPI), one of the nation's economic health barometers, moderated to 4.2% in April 2017, which was less than consensus estimates of 4.8%, according to a statement by the Statistics Department today.
 
April’s IPI performance also grew slower from 4.6% recorded in March this year, as well as 4.3% recorded in the first quarter of this year.
 
The decline in April’s IPI growth was due to the decline in mining and electricity index which dropped by 2% and 1.5% respectively, but mitigated by strong growth in the manufacturing sector which grew by 6.7%, the Department said.
 
“While there was a slight slowdown in overall IPI growth because of the mining sector, this masks the solid performance of the manufacturing sector, including the electrical and electronics segment,” Nomura Singapore Ltd’s economist Brian Tan said in a brief email to theedgemarkets.com.
 
According to the Statistics Department, the output in the manufacturing sector continued to record a significant growth, thanks to expansion in major sub-sectors such as electrical and electronics products which grew by 9.7%, followed by food, beverages and tobacco (15.4%); and petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (3%).
 
Output in the mining sector contracted by 2% in April 2017 (March 2017: 2%), due to the 6.6% decrease in Crude Oil index, the Department added. Meanwhile, the statement added that the natural gas index rose 4.0%.
 
Output in the electricity sector declined by 1.5% in April, following by a decrease of 0.2% recorded a month earlier.