KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's economic recovery will continue to be resilient, as the Leading Index (LI) level continues to show an upward trend, rising to 111.3 points in March 2022 from 110.9 points in February 2022, said the Statistics Department (DoSM).

       The LI is a predictive tool used to anticipate economic upturns and downturns in an average of four to six months ahead.

       In a statement on the Malaysian Economic Indicators: Leading, Coincident & Lagging Indexes for March 2022, DoSM said the increase in the LI was primarily supported by the rising number of housing units approved (0.3 per cent) and number of new companies registered (0.3 per cent).

       "However, year-on-year, the LI slipped to -1.5 per cent in March 2022, mainly due to the performance of real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals ," said chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin.

       He said further analysis from a directional perspective in the short-term indicated that the economy is expected to remain on the path of recovery, despite rising commodity prices following the protracted global conflict which led to a further decline in purchasing power.

       DoSM also revealed that the Coincident Index (CI) rose by 3.1 per cent to 117.9 points in March 2022 from 114.3 points in March 2021.

       The growth was driven by a significant rise in capacity utilisation in the manufacturing sector (0.7 per cent) and total employment in manufacturing sector (0.4 per cent). - Bernama