KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — Malaysia’s near-term economic prospects remain upbeat with the Leading Index (LI) increasing to 110.0 points in January 2021 from 101.7 points in the same month last year for an annual growth of 8.2 per cent, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia.

Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the LI's increase was supported by the persistent rise in the Bursa Malaysia Industrial Index, which was attributed by the Healthcare Index and Transportation and Logistics Index.

"Correspondingly, the LI showed an increase of 0.7 per cent based on a monthly comparison. The growth was mainly contributed by expected sales value in manufacturing sector (0.7 per cent),” he said in a statement on the Leading, Coincident and Lagging Indexes for January 2021.

He noted that the growth rate of smoothed LI stayed above the trend which indicated that the country’s economic prospects in the near term remained upbeat in line with the inoculation drive.

Moreover, the easing of economic containment measures had raised hopes for bringing the economic impacts under control, Mohd Uzir said.

Meanwhile, the Coincident Index (CI) declined by 0.4 per cent to reach 111.0 points in January 2021 from 111.4 points in the previous month, supported by a significant decrease in real contributions to the Employees Provident Fund (-0.5 per cent).

"Similarly, the performance of the CI, which reflects the current state of the economy, slowed to an annual growth of negative 2.2 per cent in January 2021 from negative 1.3 per cent in the preceding month.

"The fall in the CI reflects the re-implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) with three stages starting on Jan 13, 2021, as a strict measure to break the chain of infection and transmission of Covid-19,” he said.

On another note, Mohd Uzir said the Malaysia Population and Housing Census 2020 via face-to-face and online (e-Census) was being conducted nationwide until June 30, 2021.

"All Malaysian residents are urged to cooperate in realising the success of Malaysia Census 2020 to ensure that no one is left behind, as your data is our future,” he added.

For more information, visit the Malaysia Census 2020 portal (www.mycensus.gov.my) or social media @MyCensus2020. — Bernama