Malaysia Posts Smaller Decline in Output as Export Slump Eases
Written on August 11, 2009
Malaysia’s industrial production fell by the least in seven months in June as a nine-month slump in exports eased.
Production at factories, utilities and mines dropped 9.6 percent from a year earlier, after decreasing a revised 11.3 percent in May, the Putrajaya-based Statistics Department said today. That compares with the median forecast for a 9.1 percent decline in a Bloomberg News survey of 18 economists.
Exports of Malaysian Pacific Industries Bhd. semiconductors and other goods posted the smallest drop in three months in June, adding to signs the global recession is abating. The Southeast Asian nation’s manufacturing industry has “stabilized” and the economy will likely resume growth in 2010, Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamed said last week.
“Production will continue on a gradual recovery trajectory from the first-quarter lows, supported by the pick-up in exports,” said David Cohen, director of Asian forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore. Overseas sales and industrial output are likely to improve “in the face of a turnaround in global demand,” he said.
Malaysia’s central bank held interest rates steady at 2 percent for a third straight meeting last month, saying the $187 billion economy showed “signs of stabilizing in the second quarter no teletrack payday loan.” It cut borrowing costs by 1.5 percentage points between November and February to revive growth as gross domestic product shrank 6.2 percent in the first three months of 2009.
“There has been a slight pick up in orders” for electronics manufacturers in Malaysia, Mustapa said Aug. 6. The gains are “not pervasive yet,” he said.
Worldwide semiconductor sales rose 3.7 percent in June from May, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Other Asian exporters including China and Taiwan have also reported smaller declines in overseas shipments.
Malaysia’s manufacturing output shrank 13.1 percent in June, the smallest drop in seven months, today’s report showed. Mining slid 3.4 percent, while electricity production gained 2.5 percent, the first increase since September. Overall industrial production contracted 12.7 percent in the first half of the year.
Filed in: management.