KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia continues to be on the path to economic recovery, but should stay cautious due to global uncertainties, according to the Statistics Department.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said with the nation entering the final phase of the National Recovery Plan in January 2022, socioeconomic activities had continued to pick up.
“Nevertheless, global challenges such as climate-related disasters, ongoing geopolitical tension and supply chain disruptions are foreseen to impact Malaysia's inflation,” he said in a statement today.
Uzir said Malaysia's economy remained on the recovery path despite the uncertainties, as indicated by the leading index which has consistently exceeded 100.0 points by registering 110.1 points in January 2022.
“Malaysia is reopening its international borders, which in turn will see more positive impacts on tourism-related activities as well as the labour market to overcome issues of labour shortages in certain industries.
“While Malaysia remains optimistic for economic recovery, we should be cautious of the ongoing global uncertainties following the geopolitical instability and lockdown in cities across China,” he said.
Uzir said total trade continued to be resilient in January 2022, recording a double-digit increase of 24.8% to RM203.0 billion from RM162.6 billion a year earlier.
“Exports jumped 23.5% to RM110.7 billion, higher than imports which increased 26.4% to RM92.3 billion, leading to a trade surplus of RM18.4 billion, (an increase of) 10.9% from the previous year,” he said.
In the same month, the consumer price index increased by 2.3% compared with the same month of the previous year mainly due to the low base effect as well as higher transport, food, and non-alcoholic beverage costs, the department said.
“The rise also exceeded Malaysia's average inflation rate of 1.9% for the period 2011 to January 2022,” it noted.
Led by higher prices of the primary commodities, the producer price index (PPI) for local production, which measures the costs of goods at the factory gate, surged 9.2% in January 2022 compared to a 0.1% decrease a year earlier, it said.
“The increase in the PPI for local production in January 2022 was mainly supported by the increase in the mining index and the agriculture, forestry, and fishing index,” it explained.
The department said the industrial production index in January 2022 increased by 4.3% year-on-year, driven by the manufacturing index (up 6.8%) and electricity index (up 7.7%),
However, it noted that the mining index recorded a decline of 5.1%.
Meanwhile, the department said manufacturing sales in January 2022 stood at RM139 billion, expanding by 13.1% on an annual basis backed by food, beverages, and tobacco products, petroleum, chemical, rubber, and plastic products, and electrical and electronics products.
On the unemployment scenario, the department said compared with January last year when the labour market was in a challenging state, the situation improved in January 2022 with the labour force rising by 346,600 people (2.2%) to 16.37 million.
“The number of unemployed people also declined further by 1.1% to 680,400, registering an unemployment rate of 4.2%,” it added.
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