KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 25): The monthly change of Leading Index (LI) surged 1.4 per cent in July 2019 to 119.3 points from 117.6 points as recorded in the previous month, says the Department of Statistics.

Chief Statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the main drivers for the improvement in LI were the increase in Number of Housing Units Approved (0.9 per cent); Number of New Companies Registered (0.4 per cent) and Real Money Supply, M1 (0.3 per cent).

These indexes provide an early signal on the economic performance in the near future, he said.

“The LI that signals the direction of economic movements will enter the expansion phase in November 2019 until January 2020,” he said in the “Malaysian Economic Indicators: Leading, Coincident & Lagging Indexes for July 2019” statement released today.

Mohd Uzir added the same trend was indicated by the annual change of LI which rebounded to a positive growth of 0.4 per cent in July 2019 after having a negative growth for two consecutive months.

He also stated that the Coincident Index (CI) lifted 0.9 per cent in the reference month with Capacity Utilisation in Manufacturing sector (0.4 per cent) as the main contributor.

The CI as a reflection of the current economic performance registered 1.8 per cent of annual growth in July 2019.