Malaysia's leading index (LI) increased by 3.8% year-on-year in May 2024, rising to 114.2 points from 110.0 points in the same month last year, according to the latest findings from the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).

“The growth reflected a resilient economy underpinned by increasing tourism activities and promising external demand,” said chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin in a statement on Thursday.

The LI is a tool used to forecast economic trends over a period of four to six months.

According to Mohd Uzir, Malaysia's LI has shown positive growth for six consecutive months, mainly fuelled by a substantial 31.8% rise in the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index and a 20.6% rise in real imports of other basic precious and non-ferrous metals.

Furthermore, on a month-on-month basis, the chief statistician noted that the LI increased by 0.8%, largely due to a 0.5% rise in the number of new companies registered in May 2024, The Star Malaysia reports.

Whereas in regard to the coincident index (CI), which indicates the current state of the economy, the Department of Statistics Malaysia reported a 2.2% year-on-year increase to 126.1 points in May 2024. 

This growth was primarily driven by the strong performance in the real contributions of the Employees Provident Fund, which rose by 8.7%.

In addition, the DoSM noted that on a monthly basis, the CI also rose by 0.6%. This increase was supported by all components except for capacity utilisation in manufacturing, which decreased by 0.2% from the previous month.