KUALA LUMPUR, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- The producer price index (PPI) for local production in Malaysia eased further to 6.8 percent in August as compared to 7.6 percent in July, official data showed Thursday.
The August increase was attributed to the manufacturing and mining index which grew 9.4 percent and 5.8 percent respectively, the Department of Statistics Malaysia said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the agriculture, forestry and fishing index fell 10.6 percent in August.
Water supply and electricity and gas supply indices, however, recorded an increase of 3 percent and 0.9 percent in August, respectively.
For a monthly comparison, PPI for local production in Malaysia posted a decline for three consecutive months with a fall of 0.2 percent in August.
The decrease was due to the mining index that recorded a decline of 3.7 percent.
In addition, the manufacturing index also posted a decrease of 0.1 percent in August. It recorded the first decline since September 2020 (-0.2 percent) after posting an increase for 22 consecutive months. ■