Malaysia's leading economic index fell by 1.4 percent month-over-month in December 2018, following a 0.3 percent rise in the previous month. It is the largest decline in economic activity since July 2016. Among seven components, six posted decreases: real imports of other basic precious & non-ferrous metals (-0.5 percent), number of housing units approved (-0.5 percent), Bursa Malaysia industrial index (-0.2 percent), number of new companies registered (-0.1 percent), real imports of semi-conductors (-0.1 percent), and real money supply, M1 (0.1 percent). Meanwhile, the coincident index, which measures the overall current economic performance, was flat on the month in December, after a 0.1 percent drop in November. Leading Economic Index in Malaysia averaged 0.18 percent from 1991 until 2018, 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 1.00 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 -0.90 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.