KUALA LUMPUR (DEC 9): Malaysia’s Industrial Production Index (IPI) rose 4.2% in October 2016 from a year ago, driven by higher growth in all indices, namely manufacturing, mining and electricity.

According to the Department of Statistics, the manufacturing index grew 4.2%, while the mining and electricity indices increased by 3.5% and 6.9% respectively.

Overall, the IPI posted a higher growth of 4.2% in October, compared to 3.1% in September, which has been revised from 3.2% due to the revision in the mining index.

The manufacturing sector output continued to expand at 4.2% in October, after registering an increase of 4% in September.

The major sub-sectors which recorded growth in October were electrical and electronics products (8%); petroleum, chemical, rubber and plastic products (3.7%); and non-metallic mineral products, basic metal and fabricated metal products (4%).

The mining sector output rebounded to 3.5% in October, after a decrease of 0.3% in September. The expansion in October was supported by the increase in crude oil index (2.7%) and natural gas index (4.4%).

The electricity sector output expanded steadily by 6.9% in October, following an increase of 7.1% in September.