KUALA LUMPUR, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Malaysia's industrial production index (IPI) slipped by 0.5 percent year on year in September this year after registering a contraction of 0.3 percent in the previous month, official data showed Tuesday.
The decrease was mainly influenced by the 5.2 percent contraction in the mining sector, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) said in a statement.
On the other hand, the manufacturing sector returned to marginal growth of 0.4 percent after experiencing a declining trend for three consecutive months.
Meanwhile, the electricity sector increased by 2.5 percent.
Nevertheless, on a monthly basis, the IPI showed continuous expansion with 1.1 percent growth, after registering 2.8 percent in August.
Overall, in the third quarter of 2023, the IPI registered a marginal decline of 0.04 percent year on year as compared to the negative growth of 0.3 percent recorded in the second quarter of 2023.
During the period, the mining and manufacturing sectors decreased by 0.4 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.
The electricity generation, on the other hand, increased by 2 percent in this quarter, continuing the positive momentum for three consecutive quarters.
However, in comparison with the second quarter of 2023, the IPI rebounded to 4.2 percent, predominantly backed by the growth of the manufacturing sector at 5.5 percent, in line with the quarterly expansion of exports.
In addition, imports of intermediate goods also posted a quarterly increase, thus signaling higher demand for industrial production.
As for the first nine months of 2023, the IPI expanded at a slower rate of 0.8 percent as compared to 7.7 percent in the same period of the previous year.
The increase was supported by the growth of manufacturing index (1.1 percent) and the electricity index (1.7 percent). The mining index, however, dipped by 0.4 percent. ■
