KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's leading index (LI) which predicts the economic direction on average of four to six months ahead, remained stable by registering 109.5 points in July, as compared to 105.2 points a year ago.

This corresponds to LI growth of 4.1 percent year-on-year, lower than 5.3 percent in June, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement.

Real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals persisted as the main impetus to the growth due to an increase in demand related to platinum-based metals.

Looking at month-on-month performance, LI posted a negative 2 percent in the reference month as against an increase of 0.4 percent in June 2022.

According to the DOSM, the downturn trend was particularly influenced by the real imports of other basic precious and other non-ferrous metals, which contributed by minus 0.9 percent to the percentage change of LI in the said month.

Even though LI's performance was slightly lower in July 2022, the DOSM said it indicates that Malaysia's economic prospect is expected to remain optimistic ahead as the smoothed long-term trend index continues above 100 points.

This is in line with various government initiatives and administrations that are responsive to the current situation. Enditem

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