Malaysia's leading economic index increased by 2.6 percent month-over-month in April 2019, accelerating sharply from a 2.7 percent gain in the previous month. Among seven components, six posted gains: real imports of semi conductors (0.8 percent), real imports of other basic precious & non-ferrous metals (0.7 percent), number of housing units approved (0.4 percent), number of new companies registered (0.4 percent), Bursa Malaysia industrial index (0.3 percent), and expected sales value (0.1 percent). Year-on-year, the index rose 0.4 percent in April, reversing from an upwardly revised 1.8 percent fall in March. Meanwhile, the coincident index, which measures the overall current economic performance, advanced 0.4 percent month-on-month in April, after a 0.1 percent fall in March. Leading Economic Index in Malaysia averaged 0.18 percent from 1991 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 4.50 percent in April of 1994 and a record low of -3.30 percent in November of 1991.
Leading Economic Index in Malaysia is expected to be 0.30 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Leading Economic Index in Malaysia to stand at 0.50 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Malaysia Leading Economic Index is projected to trend around 1.80 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.