Malaysia’s industrial output grows at slowest pace in 17 months

MALAYSIA’S industrial production increased at its slowest pace since August 2021, as weakening external trade weighed down the manufacturing sector.

Industrial output in January grew 1.8 per cent from a year earlier, lower than the median estimate of 2.3 per cent in a Bloomberg survey, according to the Department of Statistics of Malaysia.

Computers, electronics and optical products, the largest contributor to the nation’s manufacturing sector, saw output growth slowing to 0.8 per cent, compared to a 7.6 per cent rise in December.

The decelerating growth was largely in line with the declining trend in the global semiconductor industry amid slower momentum in global trade. BLOOMBERG