M'sia output growth hits 11-month high

GROWTH in industrial production in June hit an 11-month high, indicating that Malaysia's expansion of gross domestic production (GDP) in the second quarter - to be released later this week - will remain robust.

Barclays Bank thought so anyway. "The key takeaway from today's industrial production report is that growth in the second quarter was robust," the British bank said in a note yesterday. "We are comfortable with our forecast of Q2 2014 GDP registering 6 per cent year-on-year growth, and we maintain 2014 GDP growth forecast at 5.7 per cent."

Industrial production rose 7 per cent year on year in June from a revised 5.9 per cent in May, and way above the consensus forecast of 5 per cent.