KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s economy is expected to face challenges in maintaining its recovery momentum amid the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak, said the Statistics Department today.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Mohd Uzir Mahidin said it has been an uphill battle for Malaysia to curb the spread of Covid-19 due to the onslaught of the more contagious Delta variant.
“To overcome this situation, the government has undertaken vigorous actions by speeding up the vaccination programme and introducing the National Recovery Plan,” he said in a statement today.
Uzir noted that while key economic indicators for the first five months of 2021 were encouraging, the Leading Index (LI), which anticipates the economic direction in the near future, posted a slower growth of 6.9% in May 2021 versus 15.7% in April 2021.
In line with the low base effect, Malaysia’s trade surged year-on-year (y-o-y) by 48.7% in May 2021, continuing the double-digit growth for four consecutive months.
Additionally, the Industrial Production Index also continued its double-digit growth momentum and recorded a 26.0% y-o-y increase during the same month, he said.
In terms of prices, Malaysia’s inflation rate in May 2021 surpassed 4.0% for the second time this year, due to the continuous rise in the global food price index which hiked up food costs in Malaysia.
Meanwhile, the labour force expanded by 384,900 in May 2021, bringing the total to 16.10 million people compared to 15.71 million in May 2020.
“The labour force participation rate rose by 0.5 percentage points y-o-y to 68.5%, while the unemployment rate declined to 4.5% from 5.3% in May 2020,” he added. – Bernama, July 30, 2021
